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Donatist Martyr Stories
The Church in Conflict in
Roman North Africa

Translated with notes and introduction by
MAUREEN A. TILLEY

^fM^?;llA•5AMCTAE A1AXIME
don ATIi-LA:•ET•5ECU^/D/t

LIVERPOOL

UNIVERSITY

PRESS

Translated Texts for Historians

This series is designed to meet the needs of students of ancient and
medieval history and others who wish to broaden their study by reading
source material, but whose knowledge of Latin or Greek is not
sufficient to allow them to do so in the original language. Many
important Late Imperial and Dark Age texts are currently unavailable
in translation and it is hoped that TTH will help to fill this gap and to
complement the secondary literature in English which already exists.
The series relates principally to the period 300-800 AD and includes
Late Imperial, Greek, Byzantine and Syriac texts as well as source
books illustrating a particular period or theme. Each volume is a self-
contained scholarly translation with an introductory essay on the text
and its author and notes on the text indicating major problems of
interpretation, including textual difficulties.

Editorial Committee

Sebastian Brock, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford

Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford

Henry Chadwick, Oxford

John Davies, University of Liverpool

Carlotta Dionisotti, King’s College, London

Peter Heather, University College London

Michael Lapidge, Clare College, Cambridge

Robert Markus, University of Nottingham

John Matthews, Yale University

Raymond Van Dam, University of Michigan

Michael Whitby, University of Warwick

Ian Wood, University of Leeds

General Editors

Gillian Clark, University of Liverpool
Mary Whitby, Royal Holloway, London

Front cover drawing: Donatist iconography, from an example found near Tebessa
(source: Buletin des Antiquaires de France 1906, seance du 11 Avril, Heron de Villefosse

A full list of published titles in the Translated Texts for
Historians series is printed at the end of this book.

Translated Texts for Historians
Volume 24

Donatist Martyr Stories

The Church in Conflict in
Roman North Africa

Translated with notes and introduction by
MAUREEN A. TILLEY

Liverpool

University

Press

First published 1996
Liverpool University Press
Senate House, Abercromby Square
Liverpool, L69 3BX

All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced in any form
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in a magazine or newspaper.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A British Library CIP Record is available
ISBN 0-85323-931-2

Printed in the European Union by
Redwood Books, Trowbridge, England

Contents

Abbreviations.v

Preface. vii

Introduction. xi

Legal and Literary Notes. xix

The Donatist Passion of Cyprian.1

The Acts of Saint Felix Bishop and Martyr .7

The Passion of Saints Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda.13

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs.25

A Sermon Given on the Passion of Saints Donatus and Advocatus 51

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac.61

The Martyrdom of Marculus .77

Map of Donatist North Africa.89

Bibliography .91

Index .

Abbreviations

ANF

CCSL

CIL

Cod. Theod.

CSEL

Eusebius, EH

Frend, M&P

Frend, TDC

Maier

Analecta Bollandiana

The Ante-Nicene Fathers

Corpus Christianorum Series Latina

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum

The Theodosian Code. Translated with a com¬
mentary by Clyde Pharr. Princeton: Princeton
University, 1952.

Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum

Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History. Trans¬
lated by J. E. L. Oulton. Loeb Classical Lib¬
rary. Cambridge: Harvard; and London: Heine-
mann, 1980.

W. H. C. Frend. Martyrdom and Persecution
in the Early Church: A Study of Conflict from
the Maccabees to Donatus. New York: New
York University, 1967.

W. H. C. Frend. The Donatist Church: A
Movement of Protest in Roman North Africa.
Oxford: Clarendon, 1952.

Le Dossier du Donatisme. Edited and translated
by Jean-Louis Maier. T&U 135 and 135. Ber¬
lin: Akademie-Verlag, 1987 and 1989.

DONATiST Martyr Stories

Migne

Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina.
221 vols. Edited by Jacques Paul Migne. Paris:
Gamier, 1844-94.

Monceaux

Paul Monceaux, Histoire litteraire de 1 ’Afrique
chretieme depuis les origines jusqu’a I’invasion
arabe. 7 vols. Paris, 1901-23; repr. Brassels:
Civilisation et Culture, 1963.

Musurillo

The Acts of the Christian Martyrs. Introduction,
texts and translations by Herbert Musurillo.
Oxford: Clarendon, 1972.

Optatus

The Work of St. Optatus Bishop of Milevis
against the Donatists. Translated by O. R.
Vassall-Phillips. London and New York: Long¬
mans Green, 1917.

Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina.
Edited by Jacques Paul Migne. 221 Vols.
Paris: Gamier, 1844-94.

August Friedrich von Pauly, Paulys Realen-
cyclopddie der classischen Alterumswissen-
schaft. Neue Arbeitung. Edited by Georg Wis-
sowa et al. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1893-

REA

Revue des Etudes Augustiniennes

Sources Chretiennes

T&U

Texte und Untersuchungen

Preface

Winning a religious war has much in common with being the victor in
a military battle. Those who finally hold power enjoy carte blanche in
writing the history of the campaign. The history of the Donatist-Catholic
controversy among Christians in Roman North Africa is no exception. It
has been viewed largely through the eyes of the Catholic victors, through
the writings of Optatus of Milevis (fl. 370) and Augustine of Hippo (354-
430).’ It is not that there were no other records to read, but the victors
were historically more energetic in recording, transmitting and even
translating their own side of the story. Optatus and Augustine knew the
value of well-turned summaries of the controversy. Even today historians
have recourse to Augustine who summarized Optatus as well as the events
of his own time rather than to the less succinct and explicit documents
produced by the Donatist community. The result is that historians have
better access to the Catholic version of the struggle and the Catholic
version became the story of the conflict.

As early as 1934 Walter Bauer sensitized historians of early Christianity
to the pitfalls of doing history only from the side of the winners.^ Yet
no one applied his wisdom to the history of the Donatist movement.
Scholars continued to read a tendentious translation of Optatus and to
prefer Augustine’s biased summary of the last major Catholic-Donatist

' The only English translation of Optatus is The Work of St. Optatus, Bishop of Milevis
against the Donatists, translated by O. R. Vassall-Phillips (London: Longmans, Green, and
Co,, 1917). A few of the Augustinian anti-Donatist treatises are found in St. Augustin [sic]:
The Writings against the Manichceans and against the Donatists, translated by J. R. King
and annotated by Chester D. Hartraft, vol. 4 of A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-
NiceneFathers, First Series, edited by Philip Schaff (Buffalo: Chrsitian Literature Publishing
Co., 1887; repr. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson,, 1994).

- Rechtgldubigkeit undKetzerei im dltesten Christentum (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1934),
in translation as Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, edited by Robert A. Kraft
and Gerhard Krodel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971).

Preface

viii

conference to the untranslated stenographic record of the proceedings.^
It is no wonder, then, that scholars portrayed the Donatists as an intransi¬
gent, monolithic, and millennialist sect of Christianity which never
adjusted to the end of the Roman persecutions, for that is the portrait their
opponents in the fourth and fifth centuries painted of them.

Recently, however, scholars have focussed on long-neglected texts not
filtered through the sieve of Catholic polemic. Serge Cancel and Jean-
Louis Maier have provided editions of some of the germane texts for a
Francophone audience."* Anglophones have been less fortunate. Only
William S. Babcock has provided a translation of Donatist material in
English with his edition of Tyconius’ Liber Regularum.^

The current volume of translations of the stories of Donatist martyrs
seeks to fill part of the great lacuna by providing translations of acta and
passiones which have never appeared in English.* These accounts are
especially precious in view of the paucity of surviving materials from
Donatist pens. While the stories do not constitute an historical chronicle
or ‘high’ theology, they do provide information which allows both
historians and theologians to verify, nuance, expand, and at times correct
Optatus and Augustine.

Before readers turn to the stories themselves, it would be well to
rehearse, first, the theoretical basis for the controversy, the specific
context for the split in African Christianity and finally, the legal and
literary background of the stories. These will be found in the “Introduc-

’ Breviculus CoUalionis cum Donatistis in Gesta Conlationis Carthaginensis, anno 411.
Accedit Sancti Augustini breviculus conlationis cum Donatistis, edited by Serge Lancel, CCL
149A (Tumhout: Brepols, 1974), pp. 259-306, versus the Gesta themselves. See n. 4.

“ Serge Lancel, Actes de la Conference de Carthage en 411, 4 vols., SC 194, 195, 224
and 373 (Paris: Cerf, 1972-1991), hereafter cited as Gesta -, and Jean-Louis Maier, Le Dossier
du Donatisme, 2 vols., T&U 134 and 135 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1987 and 1989). For
a critical review of Maier’s edition and translations, see Noel Duval, “Une nouvelle edition
du ‘Dossier du Donatisme’ avec traduction frangaise,” REA 35 (1989), pp. 171-79.

’ Tyconius: The Book of Rules, Texts and Translations 31, Early Christian Literature Series
7 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1989).

‘ The story of St. Crispina was used by both Donatists and Catholics. It has been translated
by Herbert Musurillo in The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford: Clarendon, 1972), pp.
302-309. Because it is not characteristically Donatist and did not play a polemical role in
Donatist-Catholic controversies, it is not included here.

DONATisT Martyr Stories

tion” and the “Legal and Literary Notes”,

In Latin, the word ‘translator’ is the same as the word for ‘traitor’. Lest
these words be equated in this case, the discussion of two issues is in
order: the word traditor itself and the issue of inclusive language.

The Latin word traditor/traditores represents those who have deserted
to the side of the enemy, handing over {tradere) themselves and, often,
state secrets to the opposition. In the context of the Donatist controversy,
it bears even more weight. Assuredly, it means those Christians who left
the true (in Donatist eyes) church and became members of the church
affiliated with the Empire. But it meant even more. The root of the word,
tradere, meant to hand over physical objects and that is what the original
North African traditores did. When Roman soldiers came calling during
the persecutions, ecclesiastical officials handed over the sacred books,
vessels, and other church goods, rather than risk legal penalties. The
traditores sought some accommodation with the State and relativized the
importance of physical objects.

Traditionalist North Africans who would later form the Donatist move¬
ment scorned those who opted for exterior conformity to the edicts of the
State. But this was not simply because they were rigorists on questions
of Church and State. It was also because of their long-perduring physicalist
approach to religion. The books were not merely paper and ink, wood and
vellum or parchment. They were the very Word of God. Handing over
the Bible and handing over the martyrs were faces of the same coin, the
coin of treason to the Church.

The term traditores was applied not only to the persons who literally
engaged in these acts, but also to their ecclesial descendants, generation
after generation, i.e., the persons they ordained.^ Hence, they were not
only traditores, but members of the church of the traditores, the Catholic
Church.

The stories of the martyrs in this volume are translated from the Latin

’ Thus we find Petilian, the Donatist bishop of Constantine (ca. 395-412), aggressively
questioning Augustine at the Conference of Carthage in 411 regarding his ecclesiatical
parentage, i.e., who ordained him. See Gesta 3.227-244 (SC 224.1168-83). Considering
the Catholic view on original sin which antedated even the Pelagian controversy, this must
have smng. On the Catholic view, see Peter Brown, Augustine. A Biography (Berkeley and
Los Angeles: University of California, 1967), p. 388.

Preface

sources indicated in each of the introductory sections. They are translated
inclusively not simply because this is the contemporary style but for two
reasons. First, the Donatists themselves valued martyrs by either sex over
male hierarchical leadership. Second, Donatist exegesis is different from
contemporary practice in its use of feminine metaphors and models. In
the ambient Christian literature, male figures in Scripture are models for
the behavior of both men and for women, and female figures model only
institutions. Thus individuals, both men and women, find their models for
Christian virtue only in masculine patterns. In Donatist literature, by
contrast, female figures may be models for individual men’s behavior.
Between these two historical facts and the expectations of contemporary
readers, an inclusive translation seems appropriate.

References to documents other than the Donatist martyr stories translated
in this volume are to easily accessible translations. Only when no transla¬
tions exist or when modem translations obscure the point made in Latin
are Latin versions referenced.

In the course of writing this book, I have incurred several debts of
gratitude which I am happy to acknowledge. The first is to Raymond Van
Dam who encouraged the book at its start. The second is to the Florida
State University. A Summer Research Grant provided the funds and the
time for the acquisition, transcription and collation of microfilms of the
manuscripts of The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs. A sabbatical permitted
the final editing and preparation of copy for the book. I owe a very large
debt to Gillian Clark and Robert Markus for their diligent editing, their
suggestions for the improvement of the introductory materials and foot¬
notes, and for their encouragement through the entire process of writing
and editing this volume. Finally, I would like to thank my husband,
Terrence Tilley, for the preparation of the camera-ready copy of the
manuscript and for all his encouragement and help along the way.

Introduction

In the city of Carthage' in the year 304, there was a riot outside the
entrance to the prison. Christians coming in from the countryside to visit
their friends and relatives in prison were pushed, shoved, whipped, and
prevented from bringing consolation to the confessors confined in dark
cells and tortured to the shedding of blood. The food and drink they
brought for those in the dungeons were knocked from their hands and
scattered where the dogs could lap them up. Parents, both fathers and
mothers, were beaten into the gutters.^

The remarkable thing about the incident was not the riot itself; Carthage
must have had its share of ruffians and violence. The noteworthy fact was
that these Christian rustics were beaten not by the local Roman authorities,
but by troops employed by Mensurius, the Christian bishop of the city,
and by Caecilian, his deacon, who, for reasons which remain obscure,
did not want these people visiting their friends and neighbors in jail. The
occasion represents the first time that North African Christians conspired
with the state to harass other Christians. The story of the confessors inside
the prison and their reaction to the riot is preserved in The Acts of the
Abitinian Martyrs, the story which encapsulated the outrage of the confes¬
sors and their supporters against their Christian oppressors.

This incident is key to understanding the Donatist schism. To situate
the incident and, indeed, the schism itself, we need to consider the issues
the incident raises.

This division of Christians against other Christians began long before
the traditional date of 311 when two bishops claimed the see of Carthage.
It continued for some time after the Catholics declared victory in 411. It
was this split between Christian churches which found its rallying cries

' This and all other places mentioned in these stories whose locations are certain are
marked on the map on p. 89.

" See The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §20.

Introduction

xii

in the stories of this volume.

Donatism was a religious movement which peaked in fourth-century
North Africa in response to a crisis of ecclesiology. The specific point
at issue was the relationship of the Christian community to the larger
society. All the disputes between Catholics and Donatists were rooted in
their different approaches to the matter.

Earliest Christianity had viewed the State, specifically the Roman
Empire, in two ways, both of which had biblical warrants, and both of
which served to strengthen the cohesion of the Christian community.
Beginning with the writings of Paul and Luke and continuing with the
Apologists, Christians saw the State was a necessary condition of life in
the world, a manifestation of the general authority of God over creation.
At best, it was a gift of God for the ordered conduct of human affairs
(e.g., Rom 13.1-7). In this view. Church and State were both established
by God and mutually reinforced Christian morality.

But, if fact, the general society did not see the Christian way of life as
identical with the best interests of the State and, in response, Christians
were perceived and perceived themselves as being at odds with the State.
A second view of the relationship between Church and State developed.
The State as an entity and in the person of its leader was the servant of
Satan or the Antichrist in the Bible (Rev passim) and in the writings of
Christian polemicists of the second and third centuries.

However, when Christianity became a state-supported institution,
Christians were forced to rethink the relationship of the Church and the
larger world. Eusebius’ response, embodied especially in his Life of
Constantine, was to take the Pauline-Lukan and apologetic tack and see
the State as an instrument of the establishment of divine order. Augustine
in The City of God saw it as a condition of temporal existence, neither
sainted nor diabolical, destined to pass away at the end of the world. With
the State supporting Christianity, it would seem difficult to imagine that
any Christian congregation could revive the motif of the State as Anti¬
christ. But that indeed was what Donatism did when, as we shall see, the
State assisted Catholic Christians in persecuting Donatist Christians, a
revolution in Christian history.

The Abitinian incident at Carthage reveals one of the prime facts about
most North African Christians, at least up to the beginning of the fourth
century. These Christians were proud of the members of their Church who

Donatist Martyr Stories

xiii

had suffered for their faith and they treasured their personal associations
with these champions. From the days of the Scillitan martyrs (ca. 188)
and Perpetua and Felicity (203) to the era of Cyprian (mid-third century),
fidelity under trying circumstances provided a point of self-definition for
North African Christians.^ The experience of group solidarity in persecu¬
tion helped to define them against their non-Christian neighbors.

Defiance of persecution also defined faithful Christians against their lax
co-religionists who had cooperated with the civil authorities in times of
repression. Persecutions under Decius (249-251) and Valerian (253-260)
cemented the cormection between opposition to the state and truly faithful
adherence to Christianity. The result was an identification of martyrdom
with Christianity and a diminished tolerance for lapsed Christians seeking
to return to the Church.“* Later, Donatists of the fourth and fifth centuries
would look back to this period for models of behavior and guidance. The
bishop-martyr Cyprian would be their hero and they would circulate The
Donatist Passion of Saint Cyprian as an inspiration for their own times.

But at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth centuries, imperial
protection or persecution of Christians was not a question in and for itself.
Rather Emperors and Caesars used religious groups as game pieces in the
contest for ultimate power.’ There was peace when the emperors were
otherwise distracted, but repression returned when opportune for one
imperial party or another. During the persecutions under Diocletian (303-
305), there were new martyrs whose stories left a legacy of intransigence
to the Donatist movement. These include The Acts of Saint Felix Bishop
and Martyr, The Passion of Saints Maxima, Donat ilia and Secunda, and
the most influential of all Donatist stories. The Acts of the Abitinian
Martyrs.

After 312 when Christianity was no longer a proscribed religion,
Constantine considered it his religious duty as emperor to support Chris¬
tian worship along with other recognized cults. For example, he provided

’ These early martyr stories are collected in Musurillo.

■' On the contemporary hesitancy of bishop Cyprian to reconcile lax Christians on any
but the most stringent terms, see St. Cyprian. The Lapsed. The Unity of the Catholic
Church, translation and commentary by Maurice Bevenot, Ancient Christian Writers 25
(Westminster, Maryland: Newman; and London: Longmans, Green, 1957).

’ See Timothy D. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius (Cambridge: Harvard, 1981).

XIV

Introduction

subsidies for Christian worship and freed upper-class Christian priests
from their time-consuming and financially draining duties of serving in
municipal government.^ Keeping peace among Christianity’s various
factions was also Constantine’s duty, one recognized by Christians them¬
selves who appealed to him to arbitrate their disputes. The Donatist
controversy was the first of these conflicts.

The controversy began in the divisions between Christians over the
seriousness of a Christian succumbing to pressure in persecution and
handing over the Scriptures to be burnt or sacrificing as prescribed by law.
The division was already obvious in the events of the early fourth century,
like the fracas at Carthage in the reaction to Mensurius’ conduct, and in
305^ when some North African Christians tried to keep bishops who had
been traditores (those who had handed over the Scriptures to be burnt)
from being electors of bishops in other dioceses. Partisans of the hard line
were especially numerous in Numidia. However, at that time in the direct
aftermath of the persecution, even in Numidia, the value of Church unity
won out over ecclesiastical purity and at least one bishop who may have
handed over the Scriptures and another who had been a murderer were
allowed to participate in the election of the bishop of a vacant see.®

Six years later, in 311, values were being reversed: those who handed
over the Scriptures were no longer welcome in many quarters. While
popular schism, the split into tolerant and rigorist parties, had begun years
earlier, by 311 the hardening of attitudes eventuated in institutional schism.
In that year Mensurius the bishop of Carthage died. The contemporary
procedure for succession in North Africa was that twelve bishops of the

'■ Eusebius, EH 10.6.1-2 (2.460-462) and 10.7.1-2 (2.462-464).

’ On the establishment of the date of 305, see Maier, p. 114, n. 16; and Serge Lancel,
“Les debuts du Donatisme: la date du ‘Protocole de Cirta’ et de Selection episcopale de
Silvanus,” REA 25 (1979), pp. 217-29.

* See the proceedings of the Council of Cirta, in the Acts of the Council of Cirta in
Optatus (Optatus, Appendix XI, Vassall-Phillips, 416-420). For a related incident
regarding traditores in 320, cf. The Proceedings before Zenophilus (Optatus, Appendix II,
Vassall-Phillips pp. 346-381). Both are found in Maier, pp. 115-118 and 211-239,
respectively.

Donatist Martyr Stories

region would gather to elect a successor.’ By custom the Primate of
Numidia presided. But before any Numidian bishops could make the trek
to Carthage, the Carthaginians pushed ahead with the election. The
rigorists who predominated in Numidia were not given a chance to
participate in choosing a new bishop of Carthage. Members of the tolerant
party at Carthage tried to head off trouble by quickly electing one of their
own.

But even at Carthage Christians were already polarized over Mensurius
for his treatment of imprisoned Christians and for the suspicion that he
had handed over Scriptures to be burned. His deacon and eventual
successor, Caecilian, was similarly suspect for his cooperation in Mensur¬
ius’ interdiction of supplies for prisoners at Carthage. Traditionalists
opposed his eventual election on the grounds that he was guilty of non-sup¬
port, i.e., persecution, of the martyrs, and that one of his consecrators,
Felix of Apthugni, had been one of the traditores. Carthaginian traditional¬
ists together with the Numidians elected their own bishop of Carthage,
Majorinus, who was eventually succeeded by Donatus, giving the move¬
ment its name, Donatism.

More was at stake than simply who occupied the episcopal throne. There
were external considerations, such as recognition by the churches of other
cities and recognition by the imperial court. So Donatists appealed to
Constantine for adjudication of this contested election and the rights to
imperial subsidies. In response he appointed a commission of bishops
which sat at Rome in 313 and an appeals commission which met at Arles
in 314. Both vindicated Caecilian’s election.

When Donatists persisted in their rejection of the decision of the appeals
commission, Constantine countered with the repression of those who
refused to recognize the imperially-backed bishop of Carthage. From
periods of especially severe repression, specifically from 317 to 321 and
from 346 to 348, come the stories of the martyrs of Donatism. During
the first period, the state confiscated Donatist churches and sent some of

’ Cyprian Ep. 61A in ANF, Vol. 5: Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian,
Caius, Novation, Appendix, translated by A. Cleveland Coxe (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
repr. 1981), pp. 370-371; confirmed by the Council of Carthage §39 in 397 (Frend, TDC,

p. 12).

XVI

Introduction

their bishops into exile. The persecution was intense. At one point a whole
congregation was slaughtered inside a Carthaginian basilica. However,
the persecution was concentrated in coastal areas where Donatists were
probably not an overwhelming majority. On the whole, the military actions
against the Donatists were unsuccessful. They merely succeeded in
creating heroic Donatist martyrs instead of subservient new Catholics.
From this first period of persecution comes A Sermon on the Passion of
Saints Donatus and Advocatus.

In 321, faced with the failure of the campaign and more pressing
military concerns, Constantine suspended the laws against the Donatists.

During the next quarter century, 321-346, Donatists and Catholics
achieved a modus vivendi. Some areas were primarily Catholic, others
Donatist. In some places both parties lived and prayed side by side in the
same towns with one church for each group. Double lines of bishops
succeeded one another with only occasional quarrels. During this period
Donatists increased in number, especially in Numidia. They sent bishops
to Rome to head an already existing Donatist congregation and they
established themselves in Spain.Donatism grew without significant state
interference until 346.

In that year Donatus, leader of the Donatist congregations in the capital
city, appealed to the emperor to follow the protocol established after the
Council of Arles in 314. It had provided that when the bishop of a city
died, the next senior bishop, Donatist or Catholic, should be recognized
as Primate. He appealed to the emperor for recognition as senior bishop
of Carthage over Gratus, his Catholic counterpart, who had occupied his
see a shorter time than he had.

In response, the reigning emperor, Constans, sought advice from
Hosius, bishop of Cordoba. Hosius had been his father Constantine’s
theological advisor. On the counsel of Hosius, Constans sent imperial
notaries Paul and Macarius, with their troops, to investigate and to pacify
the countryside. They harassed Donatists both in the coastal areas around
Carthage and in the foothills of Numidia where Donatists probably formed
a substantial majority. As a result of their investigation, on August 15,
347, the Proconsul at Carthage issued an imperial decree confirming the

Frend, TDC, pp. 159-61.

Donatist Martyr Stories xvii

Catholic bishop Gratus as sole head of the Church at Carthage and
requiring all Christians to recognize him rather than Donatus as their
bishop. The wording of the decree itself does not survive but later martyr
stories refer to it.

The result of the Macarian campaign (346-348) was the renewal of sec¬
tarian strife, the creation of a new crop of martyrs, and the composition
of new martyr stories. From this period come the last two stories in this
volume. The Passion of Maximian and Isaac and The Martyrdom of
Marculus.

In 348 or 349 bishop Gratus celebrated the pacification of North Africa
with a grand gesture of conciliation. He affirmed the participation of both
Donatists and Catholics in the council he called and admitted there had
been errors on both sides. But this was not the end of the Donatist con¬
troversy. Parties named Donatist and Catholic squared off against each
other in the latter half of the fourth century and, despite reports of their
demise after the imperial repression of 411-20, they continued to exist.
But the issue over which they fought was submerged under more pressing
concerns as the Vandals marched across North Africa from Spain in the
420s. Although the name ‘ Donatist’ perdures as a term of opprobrium until
the era of Gregory the Great (ca. 540-604), the issues of the schism do
not seem to have been vital for North Africans after 450." In the face
of the Vandal occupation, the urgent needs of the day pushed older issues
into oblivion and the movement seems to have produced no more martyr
literature.

The seven stories of this volume are the only surviving Donatist hagi¬
ographies. However, as the product of Donatist pens, they allow scholars
to penetrate the history of a community largely obscured by the propagan¬
da of the victors. To assist historians in analyzing these materials, the next
chapter provides legal and literary background notes.

" For an analysis of literature regarding Donatism after the Vandal invasion, see Robert
A, Markus, “The Problem of ‘Donatism’ in the sixth century," in his collected essays.
Sacred and Secular; Studies on Augustine and Latin Christianity (Aldershot, Hampshire:
Variorum, 1994); and his essays collected in From Augustine to Gregory the Great:
History and Christianity in Late Antiquity (London: Variorum, 1983).

Literary and Legal Notes

The stories of Donatist martyrs reflect the legal situation in which the
government prosecuted those who adhered to outlawed organizations or
who failed to perform religious actions required by the State, at least in
North Africa. Their narratives reflect the laws, customs, and literature
of another place and another time. This chapter details the contextual
issues for a responsible reading of the stories of the Donatist martyrs,
narratives composed in a culture different from our own. There are three
issues especially important for the historian. The first is the genre of the
stories. The second is the degree to which the stories actually reflect the
events of the time. The two issues are intimately connected, but for the
sake of elucidation, we explore them one at a time. The final topic is
torture. Scenes of torture appear in nearly every story of martyrdom. Both
the necessity and utility of torture were taken for granted by many peoples
of antiquity. Hagiographers seem to revel in recounting the methods of
torture and their gory results. Since torture is one of the elements of
martyr stories most repugnant to contemporary readers, it deserves a few
words to help assess its place in the stories which follow.

Genre

The first question is the literary form of the stories. The traditional
answer is that they are acta or passiones, depending on the origin of the
accounts and the focal points of the narratives.

In the classic division, acta focus on the interrogation of the martyrs
in judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings. Roman courts of the period of
anti-Christian persecution employed stenographers who took notes,
transcribed them, and deposited the transcripts in the offices of local
government so that the record of the trial might be preserved for adminis¬
trative purposes. The general public was apparently allowed access to the
records. Thus even when the interrogation of confessors took place in
camera, their supporters did have access to the proceedings. In this respect

LITERARY AND LEGAL NOTES

they were no different from the supporters of other political prisoners.’

Martyrs’ stories based on these proceedings tend to concentrate on the
interrogation of the martyr. They may contain only the shortest of intro¬
ductions and summary notices of the executions of the martyrs after they
are sentenced to death. In this collection The Donatist Passion of Cyprian
and The Acts of Saint Felix Bishop and Martyr exemplify the genre.

The monotony of the genre acta is conditioned, in part, by the legal
proceedings themselves. One had to establish the identity of the accused,
the nature of the charges, and the evidence for conviction (or acquittal).
Dialogue between the presiding judicial officer and the defendant may
seem terse and formulaic, for indeed it was. Court stenographers may have
made it even more so in the transcription process.

Besides the obvious constraints of the judicial procedure, Christians also
contributed to the formulation of the genre. If the acta are based on the
minutes of the trials, they are not necessarily identical with those minutes.
Recourse to a written resource is not the same thing as copying the
resource verbatim. Even in antiquity, there is evidence that the acta were
edited for Christian purposes.Yet the reader should not discount the
monotony of the acta as attributable only to either court procedure or
hagiographic love of formulae, or even simply to both. In real life
Christians were also specifically trained to give ‘appropriate’ responses.
Examples of these formulae are Cyprian’s “Praise God” or Maxima’s
“Thanks be to God.”^ Their repetition makes the story even more formu¬
laic.

Passiones, by contrast, concentrate on the passions or sufferings and

' Trials in camera would have been contrary to law but not to custom. See Cod. Theod.
1.16.6 (Pharr, p. 28). On the presence of secretaries or stenographers who took minutes
of the trials whether Christian or not, see Giuliana Lanata, GU atti dei martiri come
documenti processuati (Milan: Giuffre, 1973), pp. 12-15. On the use of the acta in intra-
Christian disputes, see Giuliana Lantana, Processi contra Christiani negli atti dei martiri,
2nd ed. (Turin: G. Giappichelli, 1989), pp. 6-10; and Augustine, Breviculus collationis
3.17.52 (CSEL 53.81).

- See Augustine, Contra Cresconius, 3,70.80 (CSEL 52.485), who acknowledges both
Christian access to proconsular archives and the edited use of the materials; and Lanata,
Processi, pp. 11-13.

’ The Donatist Passion of Cyprian and The Passion of Saints Maxima, Donatilla and
Secunda (hereafter The Passion of Maxima) §6.

Donatist Martyr Stories xxi

deaths of the martyrs. These will be distinguished not by their record of
interrogations, but by their descriptions of the tortures endured by the
martyrs. Again the descriptions of the tortures themselves may seem all
too similar from one story to another. They are so unlike modem stories
of torture which are excmciatingly individual in their accounting of the
abuse which victims suffer.“ In this volume The Martyrdom ofMarculus
is representative of the genre passio.

Some stories contain both the record of judicial interrogations and
accounts of the tortures and deaths of the martyrs. Here the example is
the Passion of Maximian and Isaac.

These stories point out the disadvantages of too strict a dichotomy
between acta and passiones: there are simply too many pieces which do
not neatly fit either category. The later in time a piece was written, the
more often it may not fall into the patterns expected for either genre. As
martyrdom itself became more rare, the stories of martyrs came to be used
for purposes other than recording the progress of an event or exhorting
others to martyrdom. Here A Sermon Given on the Passion of Saints
Donatus and Advocatus is an especially good example because it is
primarily that, a sermon. Folded into this exhortation of catechumens to
heroic virtue is a politicized reading of the slaughter of Donatist partisans
in their cathedral at Carthage. The author does not rejoice in martyrdom
for its own sake, but as an attractive lure to capture the zeal of catechu¬
mens for the larger Donatist movement.

In addition to acta, passiones and sermons, martyr stories may take the
forms of panegyrics, diaries, letters, and combinations of all of the
above. ^

Thus the historian cannot simply divide these stories into acta and
passiones. Moreover, if form follows function, the interpretation of these
texts must address the role the stories played in their communities. Surely
they were written to record the stories of the sufferings and deaths of the
martyrs. The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §1 makes this explicit. But to
what end? They were not written merely to preserve the memory of those

“ See Maureen A. Tilley, “The Ascetic Body and the (Un)making of the World of the
Martyr, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 59/3 (1991), pp. 467-479.

^ For a discussion of the various forms, see Lanata, Gli atti, pp. 2-14.

xxii Literary and Legal Notes

who died. Were that the ease, they would all be careful of the dating and
circumstances of death.

Rather, the accounts of the martyrdoms were written primarily to inspire
Christians who needed to be able to withstand the daily threat of exposure
as people different from their neighbors (because they were), as citizens
subject to harassment by the larger community and punishment by the
State. Of course, inspiration might take many forms. It might be direct
and instructional. The stories might say: “This is how you reply to your
captors; this is how you endure torture; this is how you pray when you
think you can’t stand the pain.” It might be indirect and motivational: “See
how much the martyrs suffered. How can you complain about mere civil
harassment? Take them as your models in your daily resistance to the
pressure to conform to your larger culture.” The Sermon on the Passion
of Saints Donatus and Advocatus is a prime example of this persuasion
to resistance.

Legislation Against Christians

If form follows function and Donatist hagiography is not merely some
von Rankean retelling of the facts, what relation do these stories bear to
the events of their times? Answering this question is a difficult task
because the historian has only a very limited amount of data on the
Donatist controversy beyond that generated by the Donatists themselves.
In most cases, this material comes from their Catholic opponents, Optatus
of Milevis and Augustine of Hippo, who themselves were at the distance
of a generation or more from the earlier phases of the Donatist movement.
But these sources can be interpreted and supplemented by materials from
law codes, contemporary historians, and the stories of martyrs venerated
on both sides, like Maxima and the Abitinians.

The notes that follow are designed to assist the historian in the evalua¬
tion of the incidents narrated in the stories of the Donatist martyrs. The
first set deals with the nexus of Church and State, the second with the
enforcement of the laws relating to persecution, and the third with the use
of torture in interrogation.

Donatist Martyr Stories

xxiii

Presuppositions Regarding Church and State

The most important factor in evaluating religious persecution in the
Roman empire, whether of Donatists or others, is the degree to which
Church and State were entwined. Roman religion presumed that the people
of a state and the local worshipping community were for all intents and
purposes indistinguishable. Peace with heaven was the sine qua non of
security on earth. Individuals within the community might have multiple
allegiances but all would coalesce when the interests of the state were at
stake. In situations of crisis, failure to participate in the religious traditions
of the state would be tantamount to treason. This attitude allowed both
the general persecution of Christians before Constantine and the specific
attacks on Donatists after the recognition of Christianity as a legal religion.

During the persecutions under Valerian in the middle of the third
century, reported in The Donatist Passion of Cyprian, there was a general
feeling among practitioners of traditional Roman religions that the world
was in a dismal state. The complaint of corruption within the state was
a perennial one, but the situation seemed worse than usual as various
migrating peoples were about to breach the Rhine, the Danube and the
Euphrates all simultaneously. Traditional standards had to be upheld.

Similarly, the closing years of the reign of Diocletian, represented by
The Acts of Saint Felix Bishop and Martyr, The Passion of Saints Maxima,
Donatilla and Secunda, and The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs, saw
attempts at general moral reform. The emperor tightened discipline in the
army, reformed the system of taxation, renewed his support for state
religion, all in a bid to renew the unity and vitality of the empire. The
persecution of non-conformist Christians was a natural corollary. They
suffered both as scapegoats and as the objects of power politics in disputes
between Diocletian and his co-emperor and caesars.

Constantine’s accession in 311 did not alter the ground rules. The
cohesion between Church and State did not change during the period
represented by A Sermon on the Passion of Saints Donatus and Advocatus.
Christianity became an official religion of the empire and the union of
state and religion intensified. If the emperor were to keep the peace with
the gods, the addition of yet another divinity did not change his respon¬
sibilities; it magnified them. He became bishop for those who had no

XXIV

Literary and Legal Notes

bishop/ And when Christians quarreled about doctrine or worship, it was
incumbent on him to make peace among them so that serene and proper
worship might be offered their God.

Christians too expected Constantine to be an arbitrator in religious
disputes. He acknowledged this responsibility by mediating the Catholic-
Donatist conflict through the council he appointed at Rome under Pope
Miltiades in 313 (barely six months after his acknowledgment of Christian¬
ity) and the appellant council at Arles in 314. He articulated his own
understanding of this in a letter to Aelafius, a Christian official of North
Africa, written ca. 314;

Since I am informed that you too are a worshipper of the Highest
God, I will confess to your gravity that I consider it absolutely
contrary to the divine law that we should overlook such quarrels and
contentions whereby the Highest Divinity may perhaps be moved to
wrath not only against the human race, but also against me, to whose
care He had by his celestial will committed the government of all
earthly things, and that He may be so far moved as to take some
untoward step. For I shall really fully be able to feel secure and
always to hope for prosperity and happiness from the ready kindness
of the most mighty God, only when I see all venerating the most Holy
God in the proper cult of the catholic religion with harmonious
brotherhood of worship.^

Thus it was Constantine’s religious and imperial duty—as if the two could
be separated—to induce the religious conformity of the Donatists.

Constantine’s son Constans carried on the tradition of State involvement
with religion. In the final period represented in this collection, the era of
The Passion ofMaximian and Isaac and The Martyrdom ofMarculus, the

‘ Eusebius, Life of Constantine 4.24 \n A Select Library of the Christian Church: Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, Vol. 1:
Eusebius: Church History, Life of Constantine the Great, and Oration in Praise of Con¬
stantine, translated by Arthur Cushman McGiffert (N. p. [Buffalo]: Christian Literature
Company, 1890; repr. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994), p. 546.

’ Constantine to Aelafius in Appendix 3 of Optatus, p. 384; translated by Frend in M&P,
399-400.

DoNATisT Martyr Stories

XXV

concerns of the emperor for public order stemmed directly from his
intervention in a religious dispute at the request of the Donatists in ca.
346. Their request for his mediation was based on the council convened
by Constantine under Miltiades in 313. Miltiades had attempted to bring
peace to North Africa and some resolution to the situations which resulted
when there were two rivals, one Catholic and one Donatist, for a single
see. The agreement reached at the Council had provided that the senior
bishop would be recognized as the head of the Church in that city. It
would not matter if the bishop belonged to the party which had supported
Mensurius the Catholic or Majorinus the Donatist. The senior claimant
would rule.* When the Catholic bishop of Carthage died thirty-three years
later, Donatus the Great was then the senior claimant, and Gratus, the
newly elected Catholic bishop, the junior. Donatus appealed to the
emperor for acknowledgment as occupant of the see. Trend writes:

The Emperor [Constans] did not reject Donatus’ approach out of
hand. As his father had done before him, he decided to send a com¬
mission to Africa to investigate and report. Two imperial notables,
Paul and Macarius, were chosen for the duty and probably reached
Africa in the spring of 347.’

Because of the perception of their bias toward the Catholics, members of
the commission met an increasingly hostile response in North Africa.
About the middle of 347 Constans grew impatient and decided to promul¬
gate an edict of unity calling for the fusion of the Catholics and the
Donatists with the distribution of the churches and other resources of the
Donatists to the Catholics. As Monceaux notes, this was nothing new, but
a reapplication of Constantine’s edict against Donatists (from 317) which
had never been formally abrogated.'®

In all of the situations reflected in these stories of martyrs, imperial law
was a response not only to issues of public order but also to the order of
Heaven which demanded an imperial response.

“ Optatus 3.3 (Vassall-Phillips, p. 136).

’ Frend, TDC, p. 177.

Monceaux 4.35 commenting on Cod. Theod. 16.6.2 (Pharr, pp. 463-64).

XXVI

Literary and Legal Notes

Legal Measures in Context

What exactly were the legal measures promulgated against Christians?
What did they proscribe and command? How were the laws enforced in
North Africa? In general, one can say that, aside from mob action and
the reactions of provincial and local officials to civic disturbances, the will
of the emperors provided the legislative basis for the persecution of
Christians in both the immediate pre-Constantinian period and the era of
the Donatists in the fourth century. It was up to the imperial staff in the
provinces to publicize the legislation in their areas. As we shall see, one
cannot always assume that because an emperor issued an edict, the
legislation was necessarily enforced or even promulgated in a particular
locality. But if the legislation had been publicized in a province or a town,
it was the responsibility of the local authorities to enforce the laws. The
enforcement might be even-handed or not. Rank and social connections
brought their privileges even when all were citizens after 212.

As in the previous section, we shall review what is known about the
legislation and its enforcement in North Africa during each of the periods
represented by the martyr stories in this volume.

The texts of the laws from the Valerianic persecutions in the 250s do
not survive. However, from the letters of Cyprian and the stories of
contemporary martyrs, one can construct the following sequence. In
response to general panic at the invasion of the empire by the Goths and
to the particular incident where Christians supposedly refused to come to
the defense of the empire in Pontus, Valerian retaliated against Christians
throughout the empire." In August 257 he issued his first edict requiring
all of the clergy to offer sacrifice. Cyprian refused to sacrifice and was
exiled.'^ Others were sent to the mines.Perhaps Cyprian’s social class
and connections with the Carthaginian town counsellors delayed the
enforcement of any severe penalties and eventually ensured his trial before
the proconsul.

In the summer of 258 the emperor redoubled his efforts. According to

" Frend, M&P, p. 317.

Cyprian, Ep. 35.1 (ANF 5.314) and TTie Donatist Passion of Cyprian.
Cyprian, Ep. 76 (ANF 5.402-404).

Donatist Martyr Stories

xxvii

Cyprian:

Valerian has sent a rescript to the Senate, to the effect that bishops
and presbyters and deacons should immediately be punished [if they
do not sacrifice]; but that senators, and men of importance, and
Roman knights, should lose their dignity and moreover be deprived
of their property; and if, when their means were taken away, they
should persist in being Christians, they should also lose their heads;
but that matrons should be deprived of their property, and sent into
banishment. Moreover, people of Caesar’s household, whoever of
them had either confessed before, or should now confess, should have
their property confiscated, and should be sent in chains by assignment
[as slaves] to Caesar’s estates.'”

From Cyprian’s letters we know that both pieces of legislation were
enforced in Carthage. There were local commissions to supervise the
sacrifices as there had been under Decius. Certificates of compliance,
libelli, would have been issued there as they were in various parts of the
empire.'^

Persecutions continued until the Emperor’s attention was drawn to a
more pressing problem, his campaign against the Persians. When Val¬
erian’s death on the Persian frontier became known at Rome on August
6, 260, his son Gallienus abandoned the harassment of the Christians.'*
Historians are better informed about the persecutions at the turn of the
fourth century. They appear to be part of a return to traditional values
which affected such aspects of general culture as monetary policy and
marriage laws.'’ Martyrdoms began when Maximian engaged in a cam¬
paign for the restoration of strict discipline in the army which at this time
included many Christians.'* Several stories of military martyrs survive
from the period 295 to 299 when the emperor was visiting North Africa.

Ep. 81.1 (ANF 5.408).

Cyprian. On the Lapsed 1 (ANF 5.439) and Epp. 18 and 19 (ANF 5.297),
Eusebius, £7/7.13 (Loeb 2.268-70). Cf. Frend, M&P, p. 500, n. 136, on the date.
” Frend, M&P, pp. 351-54.

'* Eusebius, EH1.\3.\ (Loeb 2.168-70) and Frend, M&P, p. 359.

xxviii Literary and Legal Notes

These include Maximilian and Marcellus of Theveste’’ and Typasius and
Fabius in Caesarea Mauretania.^" But as Paul Monceaux notes, these men
were not exeeuted specifically for being Christians but for their refusal
to conform to military discipline.^' They had refused either induction or
recall.

The general persecutions began at the orders of Diocletian issued on
February 23, 303. His edict was published a little later in the West under
the jurisdietion of Maximian.“ This first measure called for the destruc¬
tion of churches and the burning of sacred books. It prohibited holding
Christian assembly and forbade Christians to hold public office. According
to Lactantius, there were other rights lost:

[I]n civil life honestiores were to lose their important privileges of
birth and status, and no Christian might act as accuser in cases of
personal injury, adultery and theft. Christian slaves might no longer
be freed. Only the lives of the sectaries were spared; otherwise they
were to be outlawed.”

While we are better informed regarding enforcement in the East (thanks
to Eusebius), we do know something of patterns of enforcement in Africa.
This first edict was promulgated in Proconsularis in mid-April of 303.”
It was enforced throughout the Spring in North Africa. Some bishops
acceded to imperial demands for church property. Others, like bishop
Felix, resisted. A fortnight after the edict’s promulgation in Thibiuca, he

” Musurillo, pp. 244-59.

Both are contained in “Passiones Tres Martynim Africanorum,” edited by Charles de
Smedt, AS 9 (1890), pp. 107-34.

Monceaux 3.26-28.

“ On the dates, see Lactantius, On the Manner in which the Persecutors Died 12 in The
Ante-NiceneFathers, edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, Vol. 7: Lactantius,
Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, ApostolicTeaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement,
Early Liturgies, translated by A. Cleveland Coxe (Bufffalo: Christian Literamre Publishing,
1886; repr. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994), p. 305; and Monceaux 3.28.

Lactantius 13 (ANF 7.306) and Eusebius EH 8.2.4 (Loeb 2.258).

“ See Frend, M&P, p. 372.

Donatist Martyr Stories

XXIX

was martyred on the 15th of June.“

In his second edict, sent out in the summer of 303, Diocletian called
on provincial governors to arrest and imprison the clergy. The third edict
called for the clergy to offer sacrifice. If they did so, they were to be
released.These two measures do not seem to have been enforced
anywhere in North Africa. There is no indication that clergy were brought
in separately from anyone else. In fact, when they do appear in narratives,
it is along with other distinguished citizens, with no particular separation
of clergy from laity.

The fourth edict of this persecution was not issued by Diocletian, but
by Galerius during Diocletian’s illness. This edict called for all persons
to offer sacrifice. It was issued in the East in the Spring of 304, ratified
by the Senate April 22, 304, and was promulgated in the West in the
summer of that same year.^* While there is no direct evidence of the
promulgation of the edict in North Africa, it was obviously the legal
measure underlying the persecution, because those who were executed in
304 were asked not whether they had scriptures to surrender but whether
they would offer sacrifice.^’

In the cases of both of the first and fourth edicts, the only ones promul¬
gated in North Africa under Diocletian, the usual initial enforcement was
not in the hands of imperial appointees but of local officials whatever they
were called: at Thibiuca it was the curator Magnilianus; in Abitina, it was
the local magistrates accompanied by a soldier stationed in the area.’“
However, the edicts were not uniformly enforced. In one case, a break¬
down in communication occasioned a delay in enforcement. Alfius Caecili-
anus, the duumvir of Apthugni, apparently never received direct instruc-

See The Proceedings before Zenophilus in Opatus (Vassall-Phillips, pp. 352-54) where
church officials assist in the inventory of property for confiscation, and the Martyrdom of
Felix Bishop and Martyr.

“ Eusebius, EH 8.2.5 and 8.6.8-10 (Loeb 2.258 and 2.268).

” See The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §2, The Acts of Saint Felix §1, and The Passion
of Maxima §1.

“ Frend, M&P, p. 366; and Monceaux 3.28.

” The Passion of Maxima §1 and The Martyrdom of Crispina §1 (Musurillo, p. 302); cf.
Frend, M&P, p. 375, commenting on Crispina.

“ The Acts of Saint Felix §1 and The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §2.

XXX

Literary and Legal Notes

tions to enforce the first or the fourth edict. He heard of the first edict,
or perhaps saw a copy, while travelling in other cities. Without further
guidelines, he began enforcing it in his own town.^‘

In several other cases, martyr stories report enforcement by imperial
authorities in towns and rural areas, e.g., the proconsuls Anulinus of
Proconsularis in areas outside Carthage^^ and Florus of Numidia at
Mascula.” There are several reasons why provincial rather than local
officials might enforce the edicts. Some local officials were simply unable
to enforce the edicts. The curator of Thibiuca and officials at Cirta, for
example, had trouble finding anyone to give them information on the
whereabouts of the persons who knew the location of the Christian
scriptures which were to be burned.^ Frend suggests that local officials
and the clergy colluded to obstruct justice.Of course, it is possible that
a hagiographer sought to dignify the individual martyrs by having their
first court room appearances as well as the eventual condemnations take
place in the presence of the most important provincial official.

Perhaps the most likely reason for the regular literary appearance of the
proconsul is that proconsuls did indeed try local cases referred to them.
When a proconsul toured a province, local officials could show their
loyalty by demonstrating in his presence that they were indeed enforcing
the edicts which he had forwarded to them. The Passion of Saints Maxima,
Donatilla et Secunda provides evidence for this hypothesis. According to
the story, the young women were arraigned before Anulinus when he was
at a country estate where all the people were making a great show of their
loyalty to the empire by sacrificing. He left the estate the next day without
finishing the interrogations of Maxima and Donatilla, so he had them
brought along with his entourage to Thuburbo, his next stop. Similarly

” The Proceedings before Zenophilus inOptatus, Appendix 2 (Vassall-Phillips, p. 334).
The Passion of Maxima §1 on a country estate near Thuburbo, and The Martyrdom of
Crispina §1 (Musurillo, p. 302) at Theveste.

Augustine, Contra Cresconium 3.27.30 in S. Aureli Augustini Scripta contra Donatistas,
CSEL 51-53, edited by M. Petschenig (Vienna: Tempsky; and Leipzig: Freytag, 1908-10),
52.436.

’■* The Acts of Felix Bishop and Martyr §1; and The Proceedings before Zenophilus (Vassall-
Phillips, pp. 353 and 355-56). Cf. Monceaux 3.34.

” Frend, TDC, pp. 230-32.

Donatist Martyr Stories

XXXI

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §§3-4 suggests that arraignment took
place before a local magistrate but that he did not have the staff and facili¬
ties to question them under torture. Finally, the best reason is that capital
crimes were by law referred to imperial officials for execution of the death
sentence.^^

By the end of 304 the worst was over in North Africa. Although
persecutions continued intermittently until 311, details are available only
for the East. The empire does not seem to have made more martyrs in
North Africa between 304 and Constantine’s accession.

Between the legalization of Christianity in 313 and the beginning of the
persecution of Donatists was a four-year span. During this time Christiani¬
ty was treated as a religio licita, a recognized and protected religion. As
such it could expect support from the imperial administration. But when
institutional divisions between Christian groups occurred in 311, Con¬
stantine had to choose sides. Under the influence of his theological
advisor, Hosius of Corduba, Constantine favored Catholic Christians over
Donatists. In North Africa he distributed money and favors (such as
immunity from civic levies) only to those bishops in communion with
Caecilian, the Catholic bishop of Carthage.^’' Repeated Donatist appeals
produced no change in Constantine’s position. His attitude hardened and
he began to describe the Donatists as “certain persons of unstable mind
. . . desirous of turning aside the laity of the most holy Catholic Church
by some vile seduction.” He authorized Caecilian to turn them over to
judicial authority.^*

The persecution of Donatists began in earnest in May 317.^’ Con¬
stantine sent funds to Africa to award to Donatist congregations which
declared themselves in communion with Caecilian. He placed both civil
and military authority at the beck and call of Caecilian: the comes Ursatius

Cod. Theod. 1.16,1 (Pharr, p. 27); cf. G. E. M. de Ste Croix, “Why Were the Early
Christians Persecuted?” in Studies in Ancient Society, edited by M. I. Finley in the Past and
Present Series, edited by Trevor Aston (London and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul,
1974), pp. 210-49, specifically p. 217, on the earlier tradition of the reservation of capital
crimes under the Principate.

” Eusebius, EH 10.6.1-5 (Loeb 2.454-56).

“ Eusebius EH 10.6.4-5 (Loeb 2.463).

On the dating, see Frend, M&P, p. 316,

xxxii Literary and Legal Notes

and the dux Leontius were at his disposal to bring Donatists to justice as
those who disturbed the order of the Catholic Church.““ One piece of
legislation surviving from this period calls for the incarceration of Donat¬
ists whose only crime was producing controversial literature. Even if they
could prove that the charges that they made against Catholics were true,
they were not to be released.*' The sole issue was the disturbance of
public order—and that included religious order.

The only other legal documentation from this first wave of anti-Donatist
persecution is Constantine’s letter of May 5, 321, to the bishops and the
people of the African church. In the letter he acknowledged that his use
of force had not accomplished the end for which it was begun, i.e., peace,
stability and concord. He ordered an end to the use of military force
against the Donatists until Heaven revealed to him some more effective
option.*^ Meanwhile his troops were needed elsewhere.

African Christians worked out their own modus vivendi, maintaining two
congregations in many towns, one Catholic and the other Donatist. When
Constans intervened again in 346, he followed the same course as his
father. He sent Paul and Macarius, imperial notaries, with funds to
distribute to loyal congregations—which the Donatists interpreted as a
bribe*^—and military might to back up an investigation of other congrega¬
tions. On August 15, 347, faced with increasing African opposition to the
Macarian commission, Constans voided Constantine’s suspension of the
laws against the Donatists issued in 321. He imposed an edict of unity with
the threat of torture and exile.** In November of 347 Donatist bishops
sent to Macarius a committee of their own to explore options and to plead

A Sermon Given on the Passion of Saints Donatus and Advocatus (hereafter The Passion
ofDonatus) §2. The title comes during this period indicates the commander-in-chief of the
army in North Africa; dux indicates a provincial commander, in this case, subordinate to
the comes. For a discussion of the changing roles of comes and dux, see Rene Cagnat,
L’Armee romaine d’Afrique et Toccupation militairede I'Afrique sous les empereurs (Paris:
Imprimerie nationale, 1913; repr. New York: Amo, 1975), pp. 713 and 718.

Cod. Theod. 9.34.1 (Pharr, p. 249).

Constantine to all the bishops and people of the Catholic Church, preserved in Optams,
Appendix 9 (Vassall-Phillips, pp. 408-409). On the dating, see Frend, TDC, p. 161.

Optatus 3.3 (Vassall-Phillips, pp. 131-36).

The Passion ofDonatus §§3 and 12; The Passion ofMaximian and Isaac §1.

Donatist Martyr Stories xxxiii

for a mitigation of his judicia (decrees). Members of the committee, all
senior bishops, were treated roughly. One died on the spot and another
was later executed.''^ Still others were exiled.

Eventually, Constans learned the same lesson as his father, i.e., that
Donatism was very deeply rooted and making martyrs or even confessors
was a counterproductive policy. He too relented and recalled his troops.
Donatism and Catholicism returned to their old modus vivendi, living side
by side in towns and villages. And so it seems the Highest Divinity was
not moved to wrath either against the human race or against the emperor,
at least not yet. The later history of Donatism included the final round
of persecution under Honorius and Arcadius in the fifth century. The
prudence of the emperor and the sagacity of his Catholic advisors assured
that this persecution would have only civil and economic constraints. So
it produced no stories of martyrs, and, therefore, it falls outside the realm
of this book. But one more issue needs clarification for an accurate reading
of the stories in this volume. That issue is torture.

Torture

Considerations of torture in the stories of the martyrs often revolve
around the formalized way in which torture is presented, the literary
commonplaces, and the consequent lack of credibility for the accounts.
Reports of torture are highly stylized in the earliest Christian martyr
stories and turn especially gruesome and bloody when the threat of actual
historical persecution is past. What accounts for the treatments of torture
which occur in the stories of this volume? The considerations of this part
of the chapter are designed to help the reader evaluate the reports and their
function in the Christian communities which heard them.

Many readers of this volume live in cultures which, at least publicly,
condemn torture. We take for granted that a defendant is innocent until
proven guilty. We protect accused persons from being forced to give self-
incriminating statements. Torture does not fit our conceptions of humane
treatment, even of the worst members of society. But the populations of
the ancient world had other ideas. So the first considerations must be the

The Martyrdom of Marculus.

XXXIV

Literary and Legal Notes

status of torture at the time of the stories of the martyrs and its actual use.

In the Roman empire, torture was a legally sanctioned and socially
acceptable part of the judicial process. It could be employed either as a
device for ensuring truth in inquiry or as a form of punishment. In general
and especially in the case of the stories in this volume, the former was
the more important.

According to Roman judicial procedure, torture ensured that the person
testifying would tell the truth. Sometimes simply the threat of torture was
considered sufficient.'*^ Though the information gained from testimony
under torture was not in itself probative, it could provide corroboration
of other evidence.'*^ That it was not probative may be inferred from the
fact that persons confessing their own guilt under torture could not accuse
others at the same time, hoping they would share in the guilt and the
penalty. A separate, better-founded accusation with a trial and additional
evidence would be required.'**

Torture was legally inflicted only on members of the lower classes. In
theory, upper classes were exempt, but repeated legislation and the stories
of martyrs testify to the breach of this regulation.'*’ Children and preg¬
nant women were also exempt. Eventually Christian priests were included
in the category of persons who were not to be tortured for information,
but as the stories in this volume testify, Donatist priests were not exempt
in practice.^® Even members of the upper class could have their exemp¬
tions suspended if they were engaged as tax collectors or accused of
especially heinous crimes.*'

Exactly how were people tortured? The law recognized a variety of

Cod. Theod. 4.6.3 (Pharr, p, 86); cf. 2.27.1 (Pharr, p. 58).

Cod. Theod. 11.36.1 (Pharr, pp. 334-35).

■'* Cod. Theod. 9.1.19 (Pharr, p, 227) and repeatedly in the stories of the martyrs,
especially the story of the Abitinians, where individuals are interrogated despite the group
admissions made by persons under torture. See the discussion of the adage “You cannot
begin with tormre” in J. A. Crook, Law and Life in Rome (Ithaca: Cornell, 1967), p. 275.

"Cf. The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §§3 and 8; and Cod. Theod. 9.35.1-3 and 6 (Pharr,
pp. 250-51); and 12.1.39 (Pharr, p. 347).

® Cod. Theod. 11.39.10 (Pharr, p. 341). But note that whether lower clergy could be
tortured or not still depended to some degree on their social class. See The Acts of the
Abitinian Martyrs §§3 and 11; and The Martyrdom ofMarculus §§ 1 and 3.

” Cod. Theod. 8.1.4 and 9.16.6 (Pharr, pp. 186 and 238).

Donatist Martyr Stories

XXXV

means; whipping with cords, whipping with a lead-tipped scourge, claws
used for scraping the sides of a person, and the horse or rack. With the
use of the rack, a person lying on a platform had ropes tied to hands and
feet. The ropes were pulled gradually using a ratcheted wheel or weights,
until the joints of the person’s extremities were dislocated and the sockets
exposed.Starvation was also common. Martyr stories reveal many other
forms of torture such as forcing victims to eat and drink noxious substanc¬
es, exposing victims to quicklime and fire, and beating with various
implements.”

In order to keep the cruelty of these means in some perspective, the
skeptical reader should read the annual reports of Amnesty International
and other twentieth-century accounts of torture. Even a casual perusal of
these sources will make ancient Roman torture seem very tame by
comparison.

Besides the legal aspects of torture, one must consider the complex
nature of torture as a human phenomenon.” People torture others for
many reasons. The most commonly recognized is the extraction of
information, often for self-incrimination. But beyond information used in
the conviction of the victim and the implication of the victim’s associates,
torture has other purposes. It changes conduct: it terrifies members of the
victim’s community who fear that they themselves might be subject to the
same treatment if they continue the conduct for which the victim was
tortured. But torture continues even when there is no more information
to extract and when people are totally terrified, because torture has one
more purpose, its most important one. Torture creates a new world, one
in which the world construction of the torturers replaces that of the victims
in the minds of the victims themselves.

So why did Donatists repeat stories of torture? Surely they did not do
it to terrify themselves or to deconstruct their own world. The question

Cod. Theod. 9.35.2 (whips), 8.1.4 and 14.17.6 (horse); 9.16.5 (claws and horse) (Pharr,
pp. 251, 186, 418, and 237-38).

” Dieary tormre in The Passion of Maxima §§3 and 5; exposure to quicklime §5, singeing
hair §5; beating with switches in The Passion of Isaac and Maximian §§5 and 7; and beating
with clubs in The Martyrdom of Marculus §§4 and 5.

Many of the consideration outlined in this section are more fully explored in my article
on torture and the body in hagiography; see note 4 of this chapter.

XXXVl

Literary and Legal Notes

of the function of the torture scenes in the stories themselves now comes
to the fore. The stories themselves attest their purpose. The Acts of the
Abitinian Martyrs is perhaps the most explicit saying: “These [records]
were inscribed in the indispensable archives of memory lest both the
glories of the martyrs and the condemnation of the traitors fade with the
passing of the ages. ”” But Sermon on the Passion of Saints Donatus and
Advocatus is no less eloquent as it places blame where it belongs: “Here
in the inscriptions [of the basilica], memory preserves the name of the
persecution as Caecilianist until the end of time, lest after his episcopate
the parricide deceive others who were not privy to the things done in his
name.”^* By keeping alive the memory of the martyrs, the stories accom¬
plished several purposes: they kept alive the sense of the Donatist church
as a church in touch with its roots in the pre-Constantinian persecuted
Christianity; they kept alive animosity for the Catholics who persecuted
them in league with the Roman government; they kept alive traditions on
how to survive physical persecution; they kept alive a heritage of resis¬
tance not only to physical force but to the economic and social pressure
to conform to state-sponsored Catholicism. In short, the scenes of torture
served to keep Donatism alive by offering and reinforcing an alternate
construal of reality. It is that construct which the reader is now invited
to experience.

” The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §1
“ The Passion of Donatus §8.

The Donatist Passion of Cyprian

Introduction

Thascius Caecilianus Cyprianus (ca. 200-258) was the major theologian
and bishop of North African Christianity in the pre-Donatist period. His
tenure during the repression under Decius (249-251) and Valerian (253
to Cyprian’s death in 258) made him a model for Donatist perseverance
in persecution. His strong stance on the unity of the Church, cautious
reconciliation of the lapsed, and rejection of the validity of schismatic
baptism made his theology especially attractive to the Donatists. His status
as martyr was the capstone of his reputation.

The exact date and the author of The Donatist Passion of Cyprian are
unknown. The terminus a quo is obviously the death of Cyprian (Septem¬
ber 15, 258), or more accurately, the latter half of the third century since
the author presupposes the audience’s knowledge of the traditions en¬
shrined in The Acts of Saint Cyprian and in Pontius’ The Life and Passion
of Cyprian.^ The text circulated with a number of pseudo-Cyprianic tracts
collected into a unit about the time of the beginning of the Donatist
controversy in the early fourth century.^ This would place the writing
between 260 and 314.

The Acts is a more extended version of the events narrated in The
Passion but often the two stories of the martyrdom are identical for many
sentences at a time. There are three major differences among the various
accounts of interest to historians.

' These are available in English: The Acts in Musurillo, pp. 168-175, and The Life and
Passion in ANF 5.267-274.

^ Richard Reitzenstein, “Ein donatistisches Corpus cyprianischer Schriften,” Nachrichten
de kdniglischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, Phil.-hist. Klasse 1914 (pp.
85-92), p. 89. For the other documents, see S. Thasci Cypriani Opera Omnia, edited by
Gulielmus [William] Hartel, CSEL 3/3 (Vienna: Geroldi, 1871),

The Donatist Passion of Cyprian

The first of the differences concerns Cyprian’s dress at his arraignment.
In The Donatist Passion, the Roman officers disguised him for his
transport from his place of exile to his place of judgment. Cyprian’s
popularity may have made this subterfuge a necessity. While The Acts
know nothing of this, The Life and Passion §16 tells how an ex-Christian
officer at the praetorium offered him a change of clothes because Cyprian
was wet with perspiration. Either account, disguise or pity, might lie
behind Cyprian being arraigned in clothes obviously not his own. Howev¬
er, Pontius’s story seems to be decorated at this point with such hagiogra-
phic embroidery as to lend credence to the Donatist story of disguise.

The second difference is Cyprian’s response to the pronouncement of
judgment. Only in The Donatist Passion does he respond “Praise God”
(Deo laudes). Elsewhere one finds the response “Thanks be to God” (Deo
gratios). While the former phrase has often been characterized as a
Donatist war-cry, the evidence up to the fifth century indicates that the
phrases are interchangeable.^

The third difference concerns the presence of co-martyrs. The Donatist
Passion indicates that Cyprian was transported alone but was arraigned
with others. The Acts record that bystanders volunteered for martyrdom
once Cyprian’s sentence was pronounced (§5.1). Surprisingly, it is the
orthodox Acts which records this volunteering for martyrdom which is
usually attributed to Donatism by its opponents. Both accounts agree then
that Cyprian was not martyred alone.

Two additional differences are trivial and stylistic. The Donatist Passion
stipulates that Cyprian gave his executioners twenty gold pieces; the Acts
records twenty-five. Finally, at the end of the stories, Galerius Maximus
dies a few days after Cyprian, almost as a punishment for the execution
of the holy martyr. The Donatist version intimates that he realized the
error of his ways before he died and his anguish over his misdeed caused
his untimely end.

The translation is based on Theological manuscript 33, folio 38 (9th
century) of the Wurzburg Library, as reproduced in Maier, pp. 123-26.

’ Hippolyte Delehaye, “Review of Paul Monceaux, L’epigraphie donatiste" in AB 29
(1910), pp. 467-68.

Donatist Martyr Stories

Translation

The passion of Cyprian from the day on which the blessed martyr
Cyprian underwent his martyrdom. Its sequence is described and explained
in this text.

When the holy martyr Cyprian, chosen by the Lord God, returned from
the city of Curubis to which he had gone as an exile under the order of
Aspasius Paternus who was then proconsul,'' he remained on his country
estate in accord with the imperial rescript^ granted specifically to him,
and he waited through each hour for the day to come just as it had been
revealed to him.^ While he stayed in that place no one looked for him
there.

Suddenly on the Ides of September,’ in the consulate of Tuscus and
Bassus, two officers came to him. One was from the office of his excellen¬
cy Galerius Maximus, the proconsul* who succeeded Aspasius Paternus.
The other was a knight’ from among the guards of the office of the same
proconsul. They placed Cyprian in a chariot. They both disguised him and
they rapidly flew to Sextus’ estate where Galerius Maximus had retired
to recover his health. His excellency Galerius Maximus the proconsul
ordered Cyprian to present himself there on another day, i.e., on the
following day. So Cyprian went there with the centurion, i.e., the groom
of the office of his excellency Maximus, and he stayed in his town house
on Saturn Street between Venus and Health Streets.

All the brothers and sisters'® remained right there in front of the door,
and when Cyprian heard about this, he gave instructions that the young
women should be reprimanded because everybody was loitering in the

“ Proconsul in 256/257.

’ According to The Acts §1.4 (Musurillo, p. 169), a rescript of Valerian and Gallienus
allowed for his exile to Curubis instead of his execution. Cf. The Life and Passion §11 (ANF
5.271).

Pontian’s Life tells the story of Cyprian’s dream in which he learns that he has one year
to wait before his death (§§12-13, ANF 5.271-72.)

’ September 13, 258,

“ Proconsul 257/258.

’ Eques.

Literally, universus populus fratruum.

The Donatist Passion of Cyprian

street in front of the door of the centurion’s town house.

On the next day, as I have said, on the eighteenth before the Kalends
of October in the consulate of Tuscus and Bassus," Cyprian was brought
in right away. His excellency Galerius Maximus the proconsul said, “Are
you Thascius Cyprian?”

Cyprian responded, “I am.”

His excellency Galerius Maximus said, “Have you represented yourself
as bishop for these people with their impious attitude?”

Cyprian answered, “I have.”

After speaking with his council, the proconsul pronounced judgment with
difficulty, even reluctantly. He said these words; “For quite a while you
have lived with an impious attitude and you have gathered around yourself
many people in an ungodly company of conspiracy. You have presented
yourself as an enemy of the Roman deities and of their holy religion. Even
in the security of these most fortunate times, the holy princes, including
Valerian, the most noble Caesar, for some time now have not been able
to call you back from the idiocy of your persistent madness to celebrating
the rites of the Roman people and to maintaining an upright disposition.
Since you are the perpetrator of a most wretched crime and a leader
discovered in that crime, and because you in your hostility have been
unfaithful to the Roman people along with those people whom you have
instructed in a wickedness like your own, you will suffer this punishment
as an example. In this way, your unholy stubbornness will pay the penalty
in your blood.”

Cyprian said, “Praise God!” and the believers all together said, “Praise
God!”

Then his excellency Galerius Maximus the proconsul read his sentence
from the writing tablet; “It is decided that Thascius Cyprian along with
his followers shall be punished by the sword.”

So he was led from the praetorium to the field of Sextus and a great
crowd followed him. There Cyprian folded his cloak, placed it on the
ground and knelt on it. Then he took off his dalmatic'^ and handed it to

" September 14, 258.

The dalmatic was a T-shaped tunic which fell to below the knees. It was ornamented
by two stripes mnning from front to back over the shoulders.

donatist Martyr Stories

the deacons and stood on this striped linen cloak. Waiting for the execu¬
tioner, he raised his eyes to heaven in prayer. When the brutal executioner
arrived, he lowered his eyes from heaven to the earth and he ordered that
twenty gold pieces be given to the executioner. Many handkerchiefs were
thrown by the sisters and brothers onto the linen garment on which he was
standing.'^

Then Cyprian began to blindfold himself with his handkerchief. When
he could not do it, Julian the presbyter and the subdeacon Donatus tied
the handkerchief for him.

Thus Cyprian died along with the others. His body was placed nearby
because of the curiosity of the Gentiles"* and a great crowd followed him.
During the night Cyprian’s body was carried from the place where he had
been laid. Many of the brothers and sisters carrying candles and torches
brought it with devotion and great triumph to the property of Macrobius
Candidatus the procurator which was on Mappalia Street near the pools.
There is where he was buried. Then, a few days later, condemned by his
own repentance and consumed by infirmity, his excellency Galerius
Maximus the proconsul died.

The handkerchiefs would catch Cyprian’s blood and become brandea, relics of his
martyrdom.

I.e., the non-Christians.

The Acts of Saint Felix
Bishop and Martyr

Introduction

Felix of Thibiuca, bishop and martyr, is otherwise unknown. According
to The Acts, he was caught up in the persecution of Christians which
followed the first of the anti-Christian edicts issued under Diocletian at
Nicomedia on February 24, 303. While the text of the first edict does not
survive, the testimonies of Lactantius and Eusebius indicate that the law
commanded that copies of the scriptures were to be burned and church
properties both real and moveable were to be confiscated. Christians lost
all civil rights including the exemption of honestiores from torture. When
even this policy, aimed at the more public manifestations of Christianity
and the honestiores, failed to discourage the Christian movement, the
government pursued the rank and file of the movement. Eventually all
Christians, not just officials of the Church, were forced to offer sacrifice.'

The first edict was promulgated in North Africa on June 5, 303, and
Felix was martyred on July 15 for his refusal to hand over the scriptures
to be burned.

Neither Felix nor any of the other persons in the story can be identified
with great accuracy. The location of Thibiuca is also in doubt. However,
R. Duncan-Jones attempts to identify Thibiuca with Henchir Bou Cha
through the name of Magnilianus the curator mentioned in the Acts.
Evidence locates Q. Vetulenius Urbanus Herennianus, known as Magnili¬
anus (as was his son), as a resident of Henchir Bou Cha (a city whose
aneient name is unknown). Duncan-Jones’s argument is based on the rarity

' Lactantius, Of the Manner in which the Persecutors Died §§12-13 and 15 (ANF 7.305-
306); and Eusebius, £7/8.2.4-5 (Loeb 2.257-259).

The Acts of Saint Felix

of the name and the fact that both the inquisitor of Felix and Herennianus
(Magnilianus senior) were curatores. In addition, the town named Thibiuca
in antiquity was the same distance from Carthage on ancient itineraries
as modern Henchir Bou Cha is from Carthage. The large number of
widely variant spellings of Thibiuca in the manuscript tradition lend
credibility to his thesis.^ But aside from the fact that Herennianus was
a generous benefactor to his town and flamen perpetuus, the story of Felix
of Thibiuca, or wherever, receives no additional elucidation.

While this text provides no evidence of having been used specifically
by Donatists against Catholics, it does provide background information
for the consideration of later stories. First, it makes clear that the essence
of being a faithful Christian is guarding the scriptures, even at the cost
of one’s life. Second, it illustrates more clearly than the other stories
procedures for the translation of confessors from small towns to Carthage
for arraignment and judgment. In addition, it provides a stylistic bridge
between The Donatist Passion of Cyprian and the later Donatist stories.

The text used is that of Hippolyte Delehaye, reproduced in both Maier
and Musurillo.^

Translation

§1 Under the August! Diocletian (consul for the eighth time) and
Maximian (consul for the seventh time), an edict of the emperors and
caesars went out over the whole face of the earth. It was promulgated in
the towns and cities by the officials and magistrates, each in his own area.
They were to wrest by force the sacred books from the hands of bishops
and presbyters.

^ “An African Saint and his Interrogator,” Journal of Theological Studies 25/2 (1974), pp.
106-110.

^ La Passion de S. Felix de Thibiuca, AB 39 (1921), pp. 241-276; Maier, pp. 49-56; and
Musurillo, pp. 266-70. Musurillo (pp. 270-71) reprints an appendix found in Thierry Ruinart,
Acta primorum Martyrum sincera et selecta (1689; repr. Ratisbon 1859), pp. 390-91. It
details the travels under guard of the bishop to Apulia where he was reputed to have been
martyred six weeks after the date of his African martyrdom. Because it is obviously an
interpolation designed to justify the cult of Felix in Italy, it offers no light on the Donatist
simation in Africa. Thus it is not included in this volume.

Donatist Martyr Stories

On the Nones of June"* the edict was posted in the city of Thibiuca. At
that time Magnilianus the curator’ ordered the seniores of the people’
to be brought to him. (On that same day Felix the bishop [of Thibiuca]
left for Carthage.) Magnilianus ordered Aper the presbyter and Cyril and
Vitalis the lectors to be brought to him.’

§2 Magnilianus the curator said to them, “Do you have the sacred
books?”

Aper said, “We do.”

Magnilianus the curator said, “Turn them over to be burnt in the fire.”

Then Aper said, “Our bishop has them with him.”

Magnilianus the curator said, “Where is he?”

Aper said, “I don’t know.”

Magnilianus the curator said, “Then you will remain in custody until
you render an account to Anulinus the proconsul.”*

§3 The next day, however, Felix the bishop arrived at Thibiuca from
Carthage and Magnilianus the curator ordered him to be brought in by
an officer. Magnilianus said to him, “Are you Felix the bishop?”

Felix answered, “I am.”

Magnilianus the curator said, “Turn over whatever books or parchments
you have.”’

Felix the bishop said, “I have them but I won’t turn them over.”

Magnilianus the curator said, “Turn over the books so they can be
burned.”

Felix the bishop said, “It is better for me to be burned in the fire than

“ June 5th, 303.

’ The title curator was given to a variety of administrative officials.

^ The fiscal responsibilities of North African churches were in the hands of a collegial body
called the seniores. On their responsibilities, see W, H. C. Frend, “The Seniores Laici and
the Origins of the Church in North Africa,” Journal ofTheological Studies n.s. 12 (1961),
pp. 280-84.

’ Felix and the other Christians in this story are otherwise unknown.

“ C. Annius Anulinus was proconsul at Carthage in 303-304/305. His name is spelled
variously (including Anolinus), but the spelling of The Acts of Saint Felix is the most
common in Christian literature and will be used throughout this volume.

’ Books or parchments—The Scriptures and lectionaries were not necessarily bound as a
single volume. Obedience to the edict might mean that the authorities of a single congregation
might hand over many volumes and even individual pages.

The Acts of Saint Felix

the sacred scriptures, because it is better to obey God than any human
authority (Acts 5.29).”

Magnilianus the curator said, “What the emperor ordered takes priority
over what you say.”

Felix the bishop said, “The Lord’s command takes priority over human
authority. ”

Magnilianus the curator said, “Think it over for three days, because if
you fail to obey what was commanded in this city, you will go before the
proconsul and you will continue this conversation in his court.”

§4 Then, after three days, the curator ordered Felix the bishop to
be brought to him and he said to him, “Have you thought it over?”

Felix the bishop said, “What I said before 1 am saying now and I will
say before the proconsul.”

Magnilianus the curator said, “Then you will go to the proconsul and
you will render an account there.” Then Vincentius Celsinus, a decur-
ion'° of the city of Thibiuca, was assigned to him as an escort.

§5 So Felix the bishop set out from Thibiuca to Carthage on the
eighteenth day before the Kalends of July." When he had arrived, he
was presented to the legate'^ who ordered him to be thrown into prison.
The next day, however, Felix the bishop was brought out before dawn.
The legate said to him, “Why don’t you hand over your useless scrip¬
tures?”

Felix the bishop said, “1 have them but I will not turn them over.” So
the legate ordered him to be sent into the lowest reaches of the prison.'^

After sixteen days Felix the bishop was brought out in chains to Anul-

A decurion was a member of the town council or curia. Under the empire the decurions
were responsible for the orderly functioning of urban services, including collection of the
taxes in their city.

" June 14th,

The legate was an assistant to the provincial governor. Occasionally, this officer would
be deputed to hear legal cases.

Prisons often had many levels below ground with the most secure cells at the lowest
level. An accessible example is the Mamertine prison near the Fomm in Rome with two
levels below ground. As one descends, the stairways linking the levels grow progressively
narrower, making security easier to maintain. If the water table is high, the cells also grow
more humid as one descends.

Donatist Martyr Stories

inus the proconsul at the fourth hour of the night.Anulinus the procon¬
sul said to him, “Why don’t you give up your useless scriptures?”

Felix the bishop responded, “I cannot give them up.” At that point
Anulinus the proconsul ordered him to be executed by the sword on the
Ides of July.'^

Felix the bishop, raising his eyes to heaven, said with a loud voice,
“Thank you, God. I have been in this world for fifty-six years. I have
guarded my virginity; I have served the gospel; and I have preached the
truth. Lord God of heaven and earth, Jesus Christ, I bend my neck to you
as a sacrificial victim, you who remain forever.”'^

When he finished speaking, he was led off by soldiers and beheaded.
He was buried in [the Basilica] Fausti on the road called Scillitan.*^

Ten o’clock in the evening.

July 15th.

Cf. a similar statement in the model Martyrdom of Polycarp §9.6 (Musurillo, p. 9).

This indicates the final resting place of the bishop. The road was named for a nearby
town whose location is now unknown. For a discussion of possible locations, see Actes de
la Conference de Carthage, 4.1456-1457. It was from Scilli that the first North African
martyrs came. See their story, The Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs, in Musurillo, pp. 86-89.

The Passion of Saints Maxima,
Donatilla and Secunda

Introduction

Very little is known about Saints Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda other
than the story of their interrogations and beheading. The execution of the
saints is dated to July 30, from internal evidence (three days before the
Kalends of August) in the titulus and from the traditional feast day in the
Calendar of Carthage and in the martyrologies of Jerome and Ado.

The year of the martyrdom presents more of a problem. According to
the titulus the martyrs died under Maximian, with Anulinus as proconsul.
Maximian was emperor from 286 until he resigned on May 1, 305. But
the body of the text (§1 bis) maintains that Maximian was reigning with
Gallienus (259-68). This error is perhaps the confusion of the persecution
of Christians under Valerian (who was succeeded by Gallienus) and the
later persecution under Maximian. More likely, this is really a reference
to Galerius, not Gallienus, since Galerius was caesar under Maximian.
The persecution of the laity began early in the summer of 303 giving a
terminus a quo. The execution of these martyrs is attested in some
manuscripts of The Martyrdom of Crispina.' Crispina’s execution on
December 5, 304, provides a terminus ante quern. The final piece of
evidence furnishes the necessary precision to date the execution. Maxima,
Donatilla and Secunda were executed under the provisions of the fourth
edict of Diocletian promulgated in the spring of 304. It required that all
Christians, not only ecclesiastical leaders, offer sacrifice to the gods.^
Thus the execution of Maxima, Secunda, and Donatilla must be dated to

' Musurillo, pp. 302-209.

^ For a succinct account of the evidence for the promulgation of the edict, see W. H. C.
Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Philadelphia; Fortress. 1984), p. 461.

Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda

July 30, 304.

Dating the writing of the narrative itself is another task. Obviously July
30, 304 is the terminus a quo. The story provides an additional clue which
indicates an early date for the original story. Aceording to the narrator,
the saints were interred at a place for mass burials of victims of the
beasts.^ The narrator records the inability of the Christian community to
obtain their remains, even at the time of the writing (§6). This probably
indicates a very early date for the account, probably before the end of the
persecution.''

Dating the final form is more difficult, but evidence leads to at least a
second edition. Paul Monceaux and Hippolyte Delehaye take the parts of
the story about Secunda as interpolations. She appears late in the story
and is not associated with the condemnations of the other two young
women.^ When these sections might have been added is unknown, but
both authors see them as useful to later Donatist propaganda in their
advocacy of voluntary martyrdom, and especially in Secunda’s self¬
defenestration.* Even Secunda’s name seems to have been an afterthought
since it appears only in the latter parts of the story, and then, as “Maxima
and Donatilla and Secunda.”’' Epigraphical evidence (CIL VIII 14902),
though undated, also suggests the later addition of Secunda.

’ See Charles de Smedt’s comments on the martyrdom, p. 116, n. 21.

“ Monceaux, 3.150-51, dates the final edition of the story to the early fifth century to make
it especially useful as Donatist propaganda. His evidence is based on vocabulary: paganus
(§1) and quievir in pace (§6). Pio Franchide’Cavalieri, “Della ‘Passio sanctarum Maximae,
Donatillae etSecundae,’” in Note Agiografiche VllI in Studi e Testi 65 (1935), p. 76, follows
Monceaux. Their evidence is weak, for paganus is already used in the sense of this story
by the end of the second century. See Tertullian, De corona 11.4-5 in Quintii Septimi
Florentis Tertulliani Opera Omnia, edited by E. Dekkers, CCSL1 and 2 (Tumhout: Brepols,
1953), p. 2.1057. The word is strangely invisible in the ANF 3.100 translation. Monceaux
dates the use of quievit in pace for ‘death’ to the fifth century on the basis of CIL VIII8644;
however, quiesco as an expression for the sleep of the dead is found as early as the
first cenmry BCE in Vergil, Aeneid 1.249.

^ Monceaux, 3.150; cf. H. Delehaye, “Contributions recentes a I’hagiographie de Rome
et d’Afrique,” AB 54 (1936), pp. 298-300.

'' Franchi de’Cavalieri (p. 87) takes this precipitation as her martyrdom. For a similar story,
see The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §17, n. 47.

’ Maier, p. 110.

DONATisT Martyr Stories

The three young women are modelled on Shadrach, Meschach and
Abednego in the Book of Daniel. Theirs is the story of stalwart youths
bravely standing against imperial authority even when their religious elders
and authorities failed to remain faithful to their ancestral religion. The
three North Africans whose youth is deliberately highlighted (§2) remained
faithful when all others, including Catholic priests, did not. Such a story
would have been extremely useful to Donatists when many of the Catholic
clergy collaborated with the idolatrous (in their eyes) Roman Empire.
There are no other contemporary records indicating a mass apostasy of
North African Christians as described in this passion. According to
Cyprian, a significant number of Christians did comply with the imperial
edict to sacrifice in Carthage fifty years earlier, but the scene in §1 seems
to have been deliberately drawn to emphasize the similarities of the
heroines to the youths in the book of Daniel.®

The women are also modelled on Jesus. This literary tactic of assimilat¬
ing the passion of martyrs to the sufferings of Jesus begins as early as the
narrative of the martyrdoms of Stephen and Polycarp. Stephen’s story
(Acts 6.8-8.1) has a charge of blasphemy similar to that against Jesus
(6.11) and final words similar to his; “Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit” and
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (7.59-60). But Polycarp’s story
is much more conformed to that of Jesus. It opens with an explicit
reference to the imitative behavior: “Just as the Lord did, he too waited
that he might be delivered up, that we might become his imitators, not
thinking of ourselves alone, but of our neighbors as well."^ Polycarp like
Jesus received premonitions of his sufferings while in prayer and prayed
that God’s will be done.'® He was betrayed by intimates, slaves of his
household, who in the end suffer the same way as Judas." Polycarp and
Jesus suffer on a Friday before a major Sabbath.'^ Polycarp enters the
town on a donkey as Jesus too had done.'^

" See Cyprian, On the Lapsed 7-8 (ANF 5.438-439).

■' See The Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp §1 quoting Phil. 2.4, in Musurillo, pp. 2-21,
specifically, p. 3,

Polycarp §§5 and 7 (Musurillo, pp. 5-7).

" Polycarp §6 (Musurillo, p. 7).

Polycarp §§7 and 8 (Musurillo, pp. 7-9).

” Polycarp §8 (Musurillo, p. 9).

Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda

Between Polycarp and Maxima, North African martyr stories owe a
major debt to their shaping by The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity,'*
however, for this story Jesus, directly and perhaps through Polycarp,
provides a model for martyrdom.

In The Martyrdom of Poly carp we find the first evidence that Christians
were tortured by being made to lie on a bed of crushed shells, just as these
young women would be.‘^

In the case of Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda, the language of Jesus’
passion provides words and phrases for their story, from betrayal by an
associate and the abjuration of Anulinus in the language of the high priest
at Jesus’ trial (§2) to being forced to drink gall and vinegar (§3) and to
rejoicing in the approach of their hour of glory (§6).

While the interrogation of the martyrs has some elements of the Jesus
tradition, one oddity is the conversation regarding magic and occult (§2).
Initially it appears quite out of place in a story of Christian martyrdom.
Maier, in fact, takes it to be une grossiere interpolation.'^ It is true that
the interrogation would make better sense if the question on age were
immediately followed by the answer (which is delayed by this dialogue
on sorcery). But the exchange between Anulinus and Maxima is not out
of character for the period or for the rest of the story. The charges they
hurl at one another are comprehensible in their context. Christians accused
Roman authorities of being in league with the devil simply because the
Romans were persecuting them. Romans accused Christians of practicing
magic if any remained steadfast under torture; it was believed that one
might anoint one’s body with some special ointment and thereby be

The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas (Musurillo, pp. 106-131) provides motifs,
especially dream material fox The Martyrdom of Marian and James (Musurillo, pp. 194-213),
and The Martyrdom of Montanus and Lucius (Musurillo, pp. 214-239) and the later
Martyrdom of Marculus. See the discussion of their relationship in Cees Martyns, “Les
premiers martyrs et leurs reves: cohesion de I’histoire and des reves dans quelques ‘passions’
latins de I’Afrique du Nord,” Revue d’histoire ecclesiastique 81/1-2 (1986), pp. 5-46; and
Michel Meslin, “Vases sacres et boissons d’etemite dans les visions des martyrs africains,”
in Epektasis: Melanges patristiques offerts au Cardinal Jean Danielou, edited by Jacques
Fontaine and Charles Kannengiesser (Paris: Beauchesne, 1972).

’’ Polycarp §3 (Musurillo, p. 5) and The Passion of Maxima §5,

Maier, p. 97, n. 33.

Donatist Martyr Stories

immune to the pain of torture.

The passion of these martyrs also participates in the larger Christian and
non-Christian attitude toward the relationship between holy persons and
animals, always a positive, helpful one. Two points ought to be considered
here. The first is that Donatilla understood the speech of the bear who was
to execute the martyrs. Only those who were exceptionally pure of heart
participated in the Edenic rapport with the animals. Second, the bear
appeared to have some hesitancy about being the agent of Maxima’s
execution. Donatilla tried to relieve the bear of his guilt by saying, “Do
what is commanded of you; don’t be afraid.” But the bear took the
initiative in its refusal to participate in the martyrdom, a common theme
in martyr stories. Instead, it licked the feet of the martyrs and left the
young women unharmed. The act of licking was essential to the bear’s
identification of their holiness, for bears often investigate their surround¬
ings through their sense of taste. Once the bear had tasted the ground
where they trod, it could not participate in their slaughter for it knew them
to be saintly.'*

This translation is based on the one surviving manuscript of the story,
edited by Charles De Smedt m Analecta Bollandiana 9 (1890) 107-116,
and reproduced in Maier, pp. 92-105.

Translation

The passion of the holy virgins Maxima and Secunda and Donatilla who
suffered under the emperor Maximian and the proconsul Anulinus three
days before the Kalends of August.

§1 In those days Maximian and Gallienus the emperors sent letters
through the entire province that the Christians should sacrifice on the

” Such were the charges brought by Romans against Rabbi Akiba {ca. 50-ca. 135). See
Louis Finkelstein./lkiTta.ScAo/ar, Saint and Martyr, (New York: Covici, Friede, 1936; repr.
Northvale, NJ, and London: Jason Aronson, 1990), p. 276.

'* For an extended discussion of the interaction between animals and holy persons, see
Maureen A. Tilley, “Martyrs, Monks, Insects and Animals,” in The Medieval World of
Nature: A Book of Essays, edited by Joyce E. Salisbury (New York and London: Garland,
1993), pp. 93-107.

Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda

Cephalitan estate.'^ Anulinus the proconsul entered precisely at the
evening hour. Rising at the sixth hour of the night, he called a certain
decurion to bring in Modaticius and Archadius the magistrates.“ When
they had come, they were ordered by the proconsul to bring in all the
Christians. They immediately sent members of their staff to arraign the
Christians.^’ And about the third hour of the day"^ when the proconsul
had taken his seat on the tribunal, all the Christians on this estate gathered
together. And with all of them standing there, Anulinus the proconsul said:
“Are you Christians or pagans?”'^^

They all said, “We are Christians.”

Anulinus the proconsul said: “Maximian and Gallienus, the godfearing
and august emperors, deigned to deliver letters to me that all Christians
should come and sacrifice; however, any who would refuse and would
not obey their commands should be punished with various torments and
tortures.” Then they all feared greatly for themselves and their spouses,
and even the young men and women were afraid. Among them were even
presbyters and deacons with all ranks of the clergy. Throwing themselves
on the ground they all worshipped the cursed idols (cf. Dan 3.7).

§2 However, there were there two beautiful consecrated virgins,
Maxima and Donatilla. Campitana began to shout saying: “We all came

The Cephalitan estate cannot be located with precision, but if the Thuburbo referred to
in §3 is Thuburbo Maius, the estate may be imperial.

The time is about midnight and these persons are otherwise unknown.

Officiates privatos, i.e., assistants whose duties are to arrest and arraign defendants in
criminal cases and to execute judgment.

-- About nine o’clock.

“ The word used is pagani. In the sense of the sentence, it means a practitioner of tradition¬
al religions of the Roman Empire, as opposed to a Christian. Non-Christians do not call
themselves pagans as a religious term—for them it would mean a ‘mstic’ or ‘peasant’; but
the word does have that currency among early fourth-century Christians. The common form
of interrogation would have been “Are you a Christian or nott"

The young women are called castimonialae in this text. The term sanctimoniales is also
used interchangeably to describe the same class of women. They have taken vows of chastity
but are not confined to cloister or to exclusive dedication to the service of the Church.
However, there is fourth-century evidence for some sort of ceremony in which their heads
were anointed and they were given a veil. See Optatus 2.19 and 6.4 (Vassall-Phillips, pp.
101 and 257) and the Council of Carthage (390) §3 in Concilia Africae A. 345 - A. 525,
edited by C. Munier, CCSL 149 (Tumhout: Brepols, 1974), p. 13.

Donatist Martyr Stories

to adore the gods and here are these two virgins who have not obeyed the
command of the emperors and will not sacrifice.”^’

Anulinus the proconsul said, “Tell me their names.”

Campitana said: “They are called Maxima and Donatilla.”

Anulinus the proconsul ordered a member of the proconsular staff to bring
them out. When they had been led out and were standing there, they said:
“Look, here we are. What question do you propose to ask us?”

Anulinus said: “Who authorized you to defy the god-fearing and august
emperors?”

Maxima responded: “1 am authorized by the Christian faith which I
practice.”

Anulinus the proconsul said: “How old are you?”^^

Maxima responded: “So am I the daughter of a magus, the way you are
a magus?

Anulinus the proconsul said: “How would you know whether I am a
magus?”

Maxima responded: “Because the Holy Spirit is in us but an evil spirit
manifests itself in you.”

Anulinus the proconsul said: “By the living God, I adjure you to tell
me how old you are (cf. Mt 26.63).”

Maxima responded, “Haven’t I told you that you are a magus?”

Anulinus said, “Reveal to me how old you are if you know.”

Maxima responded: “May your limbs be broken.^* 1 am fourteen years
old.”

Anulinus the proconsul said, “Today you will finish off [those fourteen

“ The identity of Campitana is unknown. It may be a proper name, but according to de
Smedt (AB 9.112), it probably reflects a general name for rustics.

The discernment of the age of the accused was of grave importance, especially in capital
crimes. The traditions of Roman law proclaimed many circumstances mitigating guilt,
including both age and sex .Fora succinct discussion of the various conditions, see Giuseppe
Carnazza-Rametta, Studio sul diritto penale dei Romani (Messina, 1893; repr. Rome:
“L’Erma” di Bretschneider, 1972), pp. 115-139, especially 116-119on age. Maxima’s later
response that she is fourteen years old places her beyond the legal age, i.e., subject to capital
punishment. See n. 33 below.

” In this case, magus indicates a person who practices sorcery.

Homonymous with “May the walls of your dwelling be broken.”

Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda

years] if you have not sacrificed to the gods.”

Maxima responded, “You sacrifice to them. You are like them.”

Anulinus said, “Your verdict is about to be pronounced.”

Maxima responded, “Greatly do I desire and wish it.”

Anulinus said, “Then prepare yourself for the verdict.”

Maxima responded, “It is better for me to receive a verdict from you
than to defy the one and true God (cf. Acts 5.29).”

Anulinus said: “How is it that you despair? Will you sacrifice or not?”

Maxima responded: “I stand firm in my God; and I will not worship
other gods (2 Kgs 17.35 and 1 Pet 1.25 quoting Isa 40.7-8).”

Anulinus said, “I will be patient with you until you make up your
mind.”

Maxima responded: “I have made up my mind, and the Lord is fortify¬
ing me against you: thus you will grow weak but I will grow strong.”

§3 Anulinus said, “Who is with you?”

Maxima responded: “Donatilla, my sister.”

Anulinus said, “Donatilla, are you Christian or pagan?”

Donatilla responded, “Still the demon stands firm in you. You are being
put to the test by it but you will not be able to put others to the test.”

Anulinus said, “Do you stand firm in this same desire?”

Donatilla responded, “Our authority is Christ; your authority is the
devil. Between God and the devil there is a great distance (cf. 2 Cor
6.15). Through us God is blessed; through you the devil is cursed.”

Anulinus said: “Both of you, sacrifice. For it is good to fear [the gods]
and to obey the command of our lords.”

Donatilla responded: “The command of the emperor will perish, but the
command of the Lord will remain forever (1 Pet 1.25 quoting Isa 40.9;
cf Lev 10.9 and 23.14).”

Anulinus said, “Consider your situation, young lady, lest you suffer
torture.”

Donatilla responded, “Your tortures will be very useful to my soul.”

That day Anulinus put off the case and ordered them to be brought to
the city of Turbitan;^’ he also ordered that they consume neither water

Civitatem Turbitanam , i.e., Thuburbo.

Donatist Martyr Stories

nor bread.Maxima and Donatilla responded: “We have the food of the
Most High;^‘ you, however, have the food of the devil.”

Anulinus said: “Give them gall and vinegar, and let them eat and drink
them (Mt 27.34 and 48).”

Maxima and Donatilla responded: “Rather save the vinegar and gall for
yourself, and may vinegar preserve you forever.” Anulinus then raged
in anger and ordered them to go to Turbo.

§4 While they were getting up and going, there was in that place
a certain girl by the name of Secunda, about twelve years old, who had
been engaged many times and rejected them all because she loved God
alone.When she saw them setting out, looking down through the
balcony of her house so high, she threw herself down from there, having
no consideration for her parents’ wealth before her eyes: she disdained
all the squalor, as it were, of this world. She despised wealth; only one
did she desire, the One she deserved to find in eternity.Therefore, with
Maxima and Donatilla on their way to Turbo,Secunda cried out:

Starvation was used as a method of torture before interrogation.

For precedents of divine provision of literal or figurative food, see Elijah and the raven
in 1 Kgs 17, Jn 4.33-34, and The Manyrdomof Saints Montanas and Lucius §9.2 (Musurillo,

p. 220).

Though the text has Turbo here and in §4, the previous reference to the Turbitan city
in §3 suggests that Turbo is an abbreviation.

” The virgin as bride of Christ is found in North African literature as early as 203 in The
Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas §18.2 (Musurillo, p, 127). Secunda’s age of twelve
makes her old enough for marriage. Females were considered pubescent and, therefore, old
enough for marriage at twelve. Males were considered pubescent at fourteen. See The
Institutes of Gaius 1.196, edited and translated with a commentary by Francis De Zulueta,
2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1946 and 1953), p.63; cf. 2.31; and Cod. Theod. 2.17.1 (Pharr,
p. 51). Secunda’s ability to reject betrothals was based on the fact that, under Roman law,
the consent of the woman and the man marrying made them married. Specific dowry or
ceremonies or the consent of others was not formally required. See the discussion of consent
in De Zulueta, 2.31-32. Gifts given during the betrothal period were normally not recover¬
able unless they had been publicly recorded and given under the condition that the marriage
take place. For a general survey on women in antiquity, see Gillian Clark, Women in Late
Antiquity: Pagan and Christian Lifestyles (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), especially the section
on marriage, pp, 13-17.

Cf. Victoria in the Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §17, especially n. 47.

See note 32 above.

Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda

“Sisters, do not abandon me.”

Maxima and Donatilla said to her, “Go away, for you are the only child
of your father: to whom would you leave him?”

But Secunda said, “It is better for me to defy my father according to
the flesh and to love my spiritual Father.”

Maxima and Donatilla said to her: “Consider the age of your father,
and do not abandon him. ”

Secunda said, “God will repay you, if you leave me.”

Maxima responded: “Know that a verdict has been prepared for us. Will
you be able to endure it?”

Saint Secunda said, “The verdict of this world cannot deter me, because
I seek a spiritual spouse, Jesus Christ.”

Maxima responded: “People nowadays are weak.”

Secunda said: “But I desire to take a spouse who does not corrupt
virginity. Oh, such a spouse is he who consoles and comforts the lowli¬
est.”

Donatilla responded: “Well, let’s go, girl. The day of our passion
hurries us along and the angel of blessing comes to meet us along the
way.” So they left that place, and the sun set.

§5 And afterwards when Maxima and Donatilla and Secunda came
again into the city of Thuburbo, five days before the Kalends of August,
about the ninth hour,^^ Anulinus, the proconsul ascended the tribunal and
he ordered Maxima and Donatilla to be brought in for the verdict. And
when they were brought in, Anulinus said: “Will you sacrifice in this city
or not?”

Maxima responded: “We are already offering sacrifice to the one to
whom we have promised our souls.”

The proconsul again on that same day deferred sentencing. But on the
next day, i.e., the fourth day before the Kalends of August, at the first
hour,^’ Anulinus ascended the tribunal and he ordered Maxima and
Donatilla to be lashed thoroughly.^* Then Maxima said, “The lashes are

“ About mid-aftemoon on July 28th.

” Shortly after dawn on August 29th.

“ The use of the lash (plaga) is the subject for punning, because when it is of no avail,
Anulinus orders the young women to be tortured on beds (plagas) of crushed shells.

Donatist Martyr Stories

not heavy when the flesh is flogged and the spirit is saved and the soul
is redeemed and strengthened.”

But Anulinus, seeing his punishments performed to no avail, ordered
beds of [crushed] shells and lime prepared and he ordered them to be
placed thereon. Maxima and Donatilla responded: “We have a great
physician who cures the blows you inflict on us and he strengthens our
souls. You are the one diminished in the punishment and we grow in
glory. You are degraded in the verdict and we are strengthened by our
trust in God. ” Then the proconsul ordered them to be placed on the rack.
But Maxima and Donatilla said: “It is in accord with the judgment of God
that a person should suffer for the master.”

Anulinus said, “Now if their throats grow weary and dry out, give them
tatiba to drink.

Maxima and Donatilla said, “You really are a fool.‘'° We will have God
most high as our seasoning, won’t we?”

The proconsul said, “Sprinkle burning coals on the hair of the heads
of Maxima and Donatilla. ”

Maxima and Donatilla responded: “What is written in the Law is
true:"*' we have passed through fire and water and we have arrived at
a place of cool refreshment (Ps 66.12).”

§6 Then Anulinus ordered Maxima and Donatilla to be placed in the
amphitheater. Maxima and Donatilla said: “Now the hour approaches us;
pass the sentence you wish.”‘‘^

The proconsul said: “Leave me now, for I am worn out now.”
Maxima and Donatilla said: “How can you be worn out after one hour?

’’ There is a word play on “throats” (fauces) and “grow weary” (defecerunt) as well as
the irony that it will be Anulinus himself who will be worn out {iam deficio) before the young
women (§6). Tatiba appears nowhere else in martyrological or medical literature. De Smedt
suggests thAt tatiba was a highly seasoned liquid which would refresh victims of torture and
allow them to continue in the interrogation (AB 9.115). Hermann Stadler’s etymology in
PW 6/1.689 leaves open the possibility of relating it to ‘vinegar’ (“Essig”), the preservative
mentioned in §3.

Continuing the irony, the proconsul is fatuus, a word meaning both snipid and insipid,
like food without any seasoning.

The Bible is regularly referred to as “Law” in North Africa.

Language of “the hour” continues the identification of the three young women with Jesus.
Cf. Matt 26.45 and Jn 7.30, 12.23, 17.1, etc.

Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda

You have just arrived and you are already exhausted.”

Anulinus said, “We command Maxima and Donatilla and Secunda to
be subjected to torture. We order Maxima and Donatilla and Secunda to
fight the beasts.”

They said, “The hour is near: do what you want to do.” Then the
proconsul ordered Fortunatus the animal keeper to bring to him a ferocious
bear which he had, which had not eaten in two or three days, and to let
it out so that it might devour these young women. They responded, “In
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall overcome you today.” And
in that same hour Fortunatus the animal keeper let out the ferocious bear.
Before it had approached the holy Maxima, Donatilla began to say to it,
“Do what was commanded of you; don’t be afraid.” And immediately the
bear roared and Donatilla understood its roar; and the beast licked her feet
and sent the virgins of God away unharmed.'*^

Then Anulinus the proconsul announced the verdict from his writing
tablet:'*^ “We command that Maxima and Donatilla and Secunda be
executed by the sword.”

They responded: “Thanks be to God,” and immediately they suffered.
But their bodies were buried in the amphitheater in the place for the bodies
of the executed, where they rested in peace, with our Lord Jesus Christ
reigning, who lives with God the Father and reigns with the Holy Spirit
forever and ever. Amen.

" The fostering attitude of wild animals toward the truly innocent is a commonplace in
antiquity in both Christian and non-Christian literature, e.g.. The Acts of Pauli
lions refuse to attack Paul and Theda, in Edgar Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, edited
by Wilhelm Schneemelcher; English translation by R. McL. Wilson, 2 vols. (Philadelphia:
Westminster, 1962), 2.360 and 372.

See the formulaic statement also in The Acts of Cyprian §2.3 (Musurillo, p. 168) and
Pontius’ Vita Caecilii Cypriani §12 (CSEL 3/3.ciii).

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

Introduction

The Passion of Saints Dativus, Saturninus the presbyter, et al., also
known as The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs, provides insight into the
critical period immediately preceding the formal split between Donatists
and Catholics. It deals with an incident occurring in 304 involving the Car¬
thaginian bishop Mensurius (d. 311/12) who was later charged with being
a traditor and his deacon Caecilian who succeeded him in the episcopate.
In 304 Roman authorities were enforcing the edict mentioned in The
Passion of Saints Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda §1 and consequently
soldiers arrested a group of Christians in Abitina, a village near Carthage,
who were caught in the performance of the liturgy. Because there was no
appropriate civil authority in residence in the village, they were transferred
to Carthage for their trials under Anulinus.'

While they were incarcerated, a remarkable incident took place outside
the entrance to their jail. The Carthaginian bishop and his deacon had
placed their own guards at the gates of the prison to prevent supporters
of the Abitinians from entering with food and other supplies for the
imprisoned confessors. These ecclesiastical guards obstructed the path of
the Abitinian supporters and a melee ensued.

The author of The Acts represented the bishop and deacon as simply
hostile to these witnesses to the faith. The writer never mentions the
existence of a contemporary law promulgated by Licinius. It prohibited
feeding those condemned to starvation in prison (usually as a form of
torture). According to Eusebius, the penalty for the perpetrator was a

‘ See the introductory comments on The Acts of Saint Felix Bishop and Martyr, n. 1, for
the identity of Anulinus.

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

similar death by starvation.^ It was possible that the bishop and deacon,
by respecting that law and attempting to prevent prison visitations, were
trying to preserve the rest of the Christian community from arrest.
Whether this law, which was repealed in 324 by Constantine, was at the
heart of the issue or not is not known.^ Nonetheless, the writer of the
preamble and the epilogue to the story of the Abitinians saw nothing
redeeming about the bishop and his deacon interfering with support for
the confessors. The epilogue records a letter from the imprisoned Chris¬
tians excommunicating those who associated with the evil bishop and his
deacon. The writer affirms the inspiration of the martyrs by the Holy
Spirit and underlines the biblical authority of the excommunication.

The Acts (actually a hybrid of acta, passio, and letter) were written close
in time to the events they narrated. Their compilation, including an added
preface and epilogue, date from the period before Caecilian’s election as
bishop in late 311 or early 312.“'

Because of the attack on Mensurius for his lack of care for the martyrs
and on Caecilian who later led the Catholic community against the
Donatists, the Acts became a favorite among Donatists, although these
martyrs were also venerated among Catholics.^

Their story survives in six manuscripts which support two different
stories, a Donatist version and a later Catholic account.^ Migne repro¬
duces two versions. The first is based on that of Etienne Baluze (PL

^ Eusebius, EH 10.8.11 (Loeb 2.471).

’ For the repeal, see Cod. Theod. 15.14.1 (Pharr, p. 437).

^ This judgment presumes that the treatment of Caecilian as still a deacon is not an
archaizing subterfuge of the editor. Considering the remainder of the story, especially the
prologue, reference to Caecilian as bishop would have generated a much more potent
polemical effect. Hence, we conclude that the Acts were written before his election as bishop.

’ For evidence of its use by Catholics, see Augustine, Breviculus Collationis cumDonatistis
3.17.32 (CSEL 53.81); and Victor Saxer, Marts, martyrs, reliques en Afrique chretienne
aux premieres siecles: Les temoignages de Tertullien, Cyprien et Augustin d la lumiere de
I'archeologie africaine, Theologie historique 55 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1980), pp. 226-27 and
321.

Pio Franchi de’Cavalieri produced an edition which was based primarily on the Catholic
version and several minor manuscripts. See Passio ss. Dativi Presb. et Aliorum in Studi e
Testi 65 (1935), introduction pp. 1-46, text pp, 47-71. His edition, by excluding manuscripts
which represent Donatist traditions, obscures the Donatist viewpoint.

Donatist Martyr Stories

8.688-703), and the second based that of Thierry Ruinart (PL 8.703-715).
Baluze (1630-1718) and Ruinart (1657-1709) were French patristic
scholars. In general, Baluze is more sympathetic to these Donatist martyrs
though not as much as one of the surviving manuscripts, Bibliotheque
National Latin Ms. 5297. Ruinart’s version shows some tendencies to
discount the heroism of the Abitinians. This chapter uses the Donatist
version of the story based on BN Lat. 5297. Significant differences from
the versions printed in Migne are listed in the footnotes.

Translation

Here begin the confessions and the judicial record of the martyrs, Satur-
ninus the presbyter, Dativus, Felix, Ampelius, and the others written
below. They confessed the Lord under Anulinus, then proconsul of Africa,
on the fifteenth before the Kalends of February,’ on charges regarding
assembly* and the scriptures of the Lord; and, in diverse places and at
various times, they poured out their most blessed blood.

§1 Everyone endowed with reverence for the most holy faith exults
and glories in Christ (cf. Gal 6.14). Once error has been condemned, let
whoever rejoices in the Lord’s truth read the records of the martyrs so
as to hold fast to the Catholic Church and distinguish the holy communion
from the unholy. These [records] were inscribed in the indispensable
archives of memory lest both the glory of the martyrs and the condemna¬
tion of the traitors’ fade with the passing of the ages. Therefore, I begin
an account of celestial battles and struggles undertaken anew by the bravest
soldiers of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 10.2), the unconquered warriors, the glorious

’ Neither of the versions reproduced in Migne contains a specific date. This date would
be the 17th of January. Another manuscript has the day before the Ides, i.e., the 12th of
February.

" I.e., liturgical assembly. Collecta is the word used consistently in the Acts. It indicates
the Donatist self-identification with the assembly of Israel (Lev 23.36, Deut 16.8, 2 Chr
7.9, and Neh 8.18). While it is used by Christians outside North Africa, Catholics in North
Africa shun its use once Donatists begin to use it.

’’ The term ‘traitor’ (traditor) is etymologically linked to the verb ‘to hand over’ (tradere).
It is applied to a person who cooperated with Roman authorities in handing over the
scriptures to the Roman authorities. See the discussion of the word in the Preface.

The Acts of the abitinian Martyrs

martyrs. I want to emphasize that I begin to write [my account] using
public records. I am endowed not so much with any talent as I am joined
to them by the respect of a fellow-citizen. I write with a specific two-fold
resolve: that we might prepare our very selves for martyrdom by imitating
them and that, when we have committed to writing the battles and victories
of their confessions, we may entrust to everlasting memory those whom
we believe to live forever and reign with Christ (cf. 2 Tim 2.12). But,
most beloved brothers and sisters, I have difficulty with where to start or
how to undertake the delightful confession of the most holy martyrs, i.e.,
with finding a beginning for my praise, because 1 am captivated by great
events and by great virtues. Whatever I see in them, I admire it all as
divine and heavenly: faith in their devotion, sanctity in their lives,
constancy in their confessions, and victory in their sufferings. As much
as these all shine forth like the sun in their [collective] virtues, so much
are they all the more brilliant in the individual martyrs.

Now it seems good here at the beginning to treat the background of this
war and to discuss the turning point which was decisive for the whole
world. Of necessity, I must be brief and proceed with all speed so that,
once the truth is recognized, one may know the rewards of the martyrs
and the punishments of the traitors.'®

§2 In the times of Diocletian and Maximian, the devil waged war
against the Christians in this manner: he sought to bum the most holy
testaments of the Lord, the divine scriptures, to destroy the basilicas of
the Lord, and to prohibit the sacred rites and the most holy assemblies
from celebrating in the Lord. But the army of the Lord did not accept such
a monstrous order and it bristled at the sacrilegious command. Quickly
it seized the arms of faith and descended into battle. This battle was to
be fought not so much against human beings as against the devil (cf. Acts
5.29). Some fell from faith at the critical moment by handing over to un¬
believers the scriptures of the Lord and the divine testaments so they could
be burned in unholy fires. But how many more in preserving them bravely
resisted by freely shedding their blood for them! When the devil had been
completely defeated and ruined and all the martyrs were filled with God’s

All of § I is lacking in Ruinart.

Donatist Martyr Stories

presence, bearing the palm" of victory over suffering, they sealed with
their own blood the verdict against the traitors and their associates,
rejecting them from the communion of the Church. For it was not right
that there should be martyrs and traitors in the Church of God at the same
time. Therefore, these enormous battle lines of confessors flew onto the
field of combat from all sides, and where any of them found the enemy,
there they pitched the camp of the Lord.

Now when the war trumpet sounded in the city of Abitina,'^ the glori¬
ous martyrs set up the standards of the Lord in the home of Octavius
Felix.While they were celebrating the sacraments of the Lord, as was
their custom, they were taken into custody by the magistrates of the
town''* and by the soldier stationed there. Those arrested were Satuminus
and his four children, i.e., Satuminus Jr. and Felix, the lectors; Maria,
the consecrated virgin;'^ and the child Hilarianus. Also arrested were:
Dativus, the one who was a senator, Felix, another Felix, Emeritus,
Ampelius, Rogatianus, Quintus, Maximus, Telica, Rogatianus, Rogatus,
Januarius, Cassianus, Victorianus, Vincentius, Cecelianus, Restituta,
Prima, Eva, Rogatianus, Giualius, Rogatus, Pomponia, Secunda, Januaria,
Satumina, Martinus, Clautus, Felix, the elder Margarita, Honorata,
Regiola, Victorinus, Pelusius, Faustus, Datianus, Matrona, Cecilia,
Victoria, Hecretina, and another married woman named Januaria. These
detainees were led briskly to the forum, now the first field of battle.

§3 Dativus went first, the one whom his holy parents bore, an
upright senator in the heavenly senate house.'® Then came the presbyter
Satuminus surrounded by his numerous children. He chose some of them
as his companions in martyrdom; he left the others to the Chureh as a
memorial to his name. Following them came the army of the Lord. In it
shone the splendor of heavenly armor: the shield of faith, the breastplate

" Palma is the token or symbol of victory and is translated iconographically into the palm
branch borne by martyrs.

Baluze has the name of the town sometimes as Alutina, other times as Aletina.
Baluze: Occanus Felix.

Colonia, a rural settlement.

” Sanctimoniali; see The Passion of Maxima, n. 24.

As the army and civil administration have their ranks of honor, so too the Christians.
Dativus holds the rank of senator in both the civil and, by analogy, the ecclesiastical spheres.

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

of justice, the helmet of salvation, and the sword’’ which is the word
of God (Eph 6.14). Relying on this armor, they promised hope of victory
to the brothers and sisters.

They came to the forum of the above-named city. Having been brought
together there, they first bore the palm of confession to their arraignment
before the magistrate. In this very same forum heaven had already battled
on behalf of the scriptures of the Lord when Fundanus, formerly the
bishop of the city, handed over the scriptures of the Lord to be burned.
When the officials kindled the unholy fires under them, rain suddenly
poured out of a clear sky. Just as the fire approaehed the holy scriptures,
it was extinguished. Hail stones fell and the whole area was devastated
by raging weather on behalf of the scriptures of the Lord.'*

§4 Here the martyrs of Christ first reeeived the chains they had
longed for, and formed into a line, happy and cheerful, they sang hymns
and songs to the Lord (cf. Eph 5.19) all along the road from this city to
Carthage. When they arrived at the office of Anulinus who was then the
proconsul, they stood in battle formation, steadfast and brave. Their
steadfastness in the Lord beat back the blows of the raging devil. But
when the fury of the devil could not prevail over all the soldiers of Christ
together, he demanded them in combat one by one.

When it comes to the struggles of their battles 1 shall not proceed so
much in my own words as in those of the martyrs so that the boldness of
the raging enemy may be known in the torments and the sacrilegious
invective, and the power of their leader Christ the Lord may be praised
in the endurance of the martyrs and by their confession itself.

’’ The citation seems to lack bifrons, the two-edged sword. But B. N. Lat. 5297 does not
have bifrons and the North African tradition often gives this verse without bifrons. See
Tertullian, AgainstMarcion 3.14.4 (ANF 3.333); and Cyprian, Ep. 58.8 (ANF 5.350) and
Test. 3.117 (ANF 5.556). Baluze (PL 8.691) and Ruinart (PL 8.705) have bifrons ‘two-
edged’ to harmonize with the biblical verse.

'* In The Acts of Paul §3.22 a similar downpour saves Theda from martyrdom. See
Hennecke, 2.361. The Martyrdom of Saints Montanus and Lucius §22 (Musurillo, p. 237)
recounts a similar incident at Carthage. The motif of the elements in service of innocents
is an ancient one, found as early as the story of Alkmena, the mother of Hercules. When
her husband Amphitryon discovered her pregnancy by Zeus, he constructed a pyre on which
to bum her. She called on Zeus to send rain to put out the fire, which he did.

Donatist Martyr Stories

§5 Therefore, since they were handed over by the local officials to
the proconsul and since it had been proposed that the Christians be sent
by the officials of Abitina—for they celebrated the Lord’s Supper against
the prohibition of the emperors and the caesars—the proconsul first asked
Dativus what his station in life was and whether he had come to the
assembly. When he declared that he was a Christian and that he had come
to the assembly, the proconsul demanded the name of the leader of this
most holy assembly. Immediately he ordered the official on duty to put
Dativus on the rack and, once he was stretched out, to prepare the
claws.’’ The executioners carried out their cruel orders with dreadful
speed, and standing there filled with rage down to their fingertips,^® with
the claws raised, they threatened the wounded sides of the martyr which
were already stripped and exposed.

Next Tazelita,^’ the bravest martyr, in front of everyone submitted
himself to torments and exclaimed, “We are Christians.” He said, “We
do assemble.” Then the anger of the proconsul blazed hot. Groaning and
severely wounded by a spiritual sword, the executioner struck the martyr
of Christ with heavy blows as he hung there on the rack. He stretched him
out and tore at him with the horrible grating claws. But in response, in
the midst of the fury of the executioners, Tazelita, the most glorious
martyr, poured out his prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord in this manner:
“Thanks be to God. In your name, O Christ, son of God, free your ser¬
vants.”

§6 In response to such a prayer the proconsul asked, “Who is the
leader of your congregation?” To the executioner now attacking more
fiercely he responded loudly, “Saturninus the presbyter and all of us.”
O martyr, giving primacy to all! He does not give the presbyter priority
over the sisters and brothers but he joins them to the presbyter in the
fellowship of their confession. That is why he pointed to Saturninus when
the proconsul asked. He did not do it to single out the person whom he

Ungula: an instrument of torture which scraped and gouged the sides of prisoners with
metal spikes like the talons of a bird,

™ Most manuscripts have the difficult reading indictis which Franchi De’Cavalieri, p. 14,
amends to indigitis, making some sense of the otherwise incomprehensible reading in B.N.
17625 indignitis. For Franchi de'Cavalieri’s version, see note 6 above,

Baluze and Ruinart alone consistently have the name Thelica. See §2 for the name Telica.

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

saw fighting equally with him against the devil, but to explain fully that
he celebrated in the assembly with them as their presbyter.^^

Blood flowed out along with his voice as he prayed to the Lord, and,
mindful of the precepts of the gospel, he asked for forgiveness for his
enemies even as his body was being tom apart (cf. Matt 6.14 and Luke
23.34). Then in the midst of the most severe tortures of the blows he re¬
proached his torturers and the proconsul equally with these words: “You
act unjustly, you wretches, you stmggle against God. O God most high,
do not hold these sins against them (Acts 7.60). You are sinning, you
wretches, you struggle against God. We keep” the precepts of God most
high. You act unjustly, you wretches. You tear apart the innocent. We
are not murderers. We are not criminals. O God, have mercy. To you
be thanks. For your name’s sake, give me endurance. Free your servants
from the captivity of this world. To you be thanks. I cannot thank you
enough.”

His sides shook violently as claws bit into them like a plow. A wave
of gore flowed out from the blood-red furrows. He heard the proconsul
saying to him, “You are only beginning to feel what you ought to suffer. ”
But Tazelita continued, “To glory. I thank you, God of all kingdoms. May
the eternal kingdom come, an incormptible kingdom. Lord Jesus, we are
Christians; we serve you. You are our hope. You are the hope of Chris¬
tians. God most holy, God most high, God omnipotent, we praise you for
your name.”

He prayed this way while the devil, through the judge, said, “You ought
to obey the law of the emperors and the caesars.” From a body now
tormented, a victorious spirit answered with a strong and persistent voice,
“I respect only the Law of God which 1 have learned. That is what I obey.
I die for it. I am consumed by it, by the Law of God. There is no other
(Deut 4.35).” By saying such things, it was the most glorious martyr
himself who tormented Anulinus even worse than his own great tor-

-- There seems to be some embarrassment for the narrator that Tazelita answered the
question in such a way as to endanger the solidarity and equality of the confessors.

“ Ruinart has custodite (the imperative) instead of custodimus (indicative), thereby
diminishing the virtue of the Abitinians.

Donatist Martyr Stories

ments.^'* Finally, his anger fattened with ferocity, Anulinus said, “Stop,”
and he bound over to a well-deserved passion the martyr confined in his
prison.

§7 Next Dativus was strengthened for battle by the Lord. He had
been closely associated with Tazelita.^^ While he was tortured, he ob¬
served Tazelita hanging on the rack. Repeatedly Dativus bravely pro¬
claimed that he was a Christian and had taken part in the assembly.

The brother of the most holy martyr Victoria^* arrived on the scene.
He was quite a distinguished Roman citizen, but at that time he was hostile
to the practice of the most holy religion. Now he was reproving the martyr
hung on the rack with unholy words, “Sir,” he said, “this is the man who
in the absence of our father kept trying to seduce our sister Victoria while
we were studying here. He lured her from this most splendid city of
Carthage all the way out to the town of Abitina along with Secunda and
Restituta. He never came into our house except to lead their young hearts
astray with his proselytizing.”

But Victoria, the most distinguished martyr, did not endure her associate
and fellow martyr being assailed by the lying senator. With Christian
candor she immediately said, “No one persuaded me to leave and it was
not with him that I went to Abitina. By the testimony of [free] citizens
I can prove this: I did everything on my own initiative and by my own
free will. Certainly I have been a member of the assembly; I have
celebrated the Lord’s Supper with my brothers and sisters because I am
a Christian.”

Then her shameless legal counsellor^’ flung even more foul-mouthed
abuse against the martyr [Dativus]. But from his place on the rack, the
glorious martyr refuted all the charges with his truthful rebuttal.

§8 Meanwhile Anulinus grew more angry and ordered the claws to
be applied to the martyr. Immediately the executioners attacked his sides

Anulinus’ name is missing in Baluze. Note the reversal of the torturer and the victim,
already seen in The Passion of Maxima §§2 and 5.

Baluze adds: ad fortissumum proelium (for the bravest battle); Kuimn: fortissimum
proelium.

Some manuscripts insert his name Fortunatianus at this point. For the name, see §17.

I.e., her brother, ironically the member of her family who would have been responsible
for arranging for her defense.

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

which had been stripped and prepared for their blows by his bloody
wounds. Their savage hands flew, more swift than their speedy orders.
His skin was cut and his viscera tom. They laid open the recesses of his
chest to the crael gaze of the impious. In the midst of these events, the
mind of the martyr stands firm and even if his limbs were broken, his
viscera tom to pieces and his sides ripped apart, nevertheless, the soul
of the martyr endures whole and unshaken. Finally, mindful of his dignity
(2 Macc 6.23), Dativus the senator poured out his prayer to the Lord as
follows in the presence of the mad executioner: “O Christ, Lord, let me
not be put to shame (Ps 30.18).” With these words the most blessed
martyr merited so easily what he had so succinctly requested from the
Lord.

Finally now, the mind of the proconsul was deeply disturbed. In spite
of himself® he burst forth: “Stop!” The executioners stopped, for it was
not right that the martyr of Christ should be tortured for the sake of
Victoria his co-martyr.

§9 Although Pompeianus the savage prosecutor attacked him with
unjustified suspicion and initiated a slanderous suit [against him], the
martyr fixed a look on him and deeply affected him saying: “What are
you doing in this place, you devil? What are you trying to do to the
martyrs of Christ?” The senator of the Lord and martyr overcame both
the power and rage of this lawyer. But how the most famous martyr had
to be racked for Christ! Questioned whether he had been in the assembly,
he firmly confessed and said that when there was an assembly, he had
come; along with his sisters and brothers he had celebrated the Lord’s
supper with a devotion befitting his religion; and that there was^’ one
single organizer of this most holy assembly. This again so readily incited
the proconsul against him and his savagery broke out again. The dignity
of the martyr is redoubled as he is flogged with the furrowing claws. But
the martyr tormented in the midst of his most cruel wounds repeated his
original prayer: “I beseech you, O Christ, let me not be put to shame (Ps
30.18). What have I done? Satuminus is our presbyter.”

§ 10 While the harsh and grim executioners scraped Dativus ’ sides with

Nolente is missing in Ruinart; volente (willingly) is found in Baluze.
" Ruinart adds: non, not. See n. 22.

Donatist Martyr Stories

crooked claws, as if their teacher were Cruelty itself showing them the
way, Satuminus the presbyter is summoned to the battle. In his contem¬
plation of the heavenly kingdom, he considers these things truly small and
of no consequence. He began to support his fellow martyrs and to fight
alongside them. The proconsul said, “You acted against the order of the
emperors and the caesars when you gathered all of these people together. ”
Satuminus the presbyter, with the prompting of the Spirit of the Lord,
fearlessly responded, “We celebrated the Lord’s supper.”

The proconsul said, “Why?” He responded, “Because it was not possible
to neglect the Lord’s supper.” When Satuminus had said these things,
the proconsul immediately ordered Dativus to be prepared for torture.
Dativus meanwhile watched the tearing of his body rather than grieve.
His mind and spirit depended on the Lord. He thought nothing of the pain
in his body but only prayed to the Lord saying, “Come to my aid, I pray.
O Christ, have pity on my soul. Care for my spirit. Let me not be put
to shame, I pray, O Christ.”

The proconsul said to him, “ It would have been better if you had called
others from this most splendid city to a right disposition and if you had
not acted against the order of the emperors and the caesars.” But stead¬
fastly and constantly he cried out, “I am a Christian.” Overcome by this
reply, this devil said, “Stop!” Throwing him also into prison, the procon¬
sul set this martyr aside for a worthy passion.

§ 11 But while the presbyter Satuminus hung on the rack anointed by
the newly shed blood of the martyrs, he was incited to persist in the faith
of those in whose blood he stood fast. While he was being interrogated
whether he had been the organizer and whether he had gathered everyone
together, he said, “I was there in the assembly.” Contending alongside
the presbyter. Emeritus the lector springing up for battle said, “I am the
organizer in whose home the assemblies were held.” But by now the
proconsul had so often been gotten the better of that he shook with horror
at the attack of Emeritus. Nevertheless, turning toward the presbyter, he
said, “Why did you act against the order? What do you get out of confess¬
ing?”” Satuminus said to him, “The Lord’s supper could not be neglect-

This sentence is missing in Ruinan and Baluze.

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

ed; so the Law orders.”^' Then the proconsul said, “Nonetheless, you
should not have made light of what was forbidden but rather you should
have observed the order of the emperors and not acted against them. ” And
with a voice well practiced against the martyrs, he admonished the
torturers to begin to torment him.^^

He is obeyed with willing compliance. The executioners fall on the
elderly body of the presbyter and, with their anger raging, they tear the
broken bonds of his sinews. You should have seen the lamentable tortures
and the exquisite torments of a new kind inflicted on the priest of God.
You should have seen the executioners vent their anger as if they had a
rabid hunger for wounds as food and for the entrails now open to the
horror of those watching. Amidst the red of the blood, the bones gleamed
white. Lest his soul being pressed out from his body desert it in the delays
between rackings, the presbyter prayed to the Lord in this way: “I beseech
you, O Christ, hear me. I give you thanks, O God. Order me to be
beheaded. I beseech you, O Christ, have mercy. Son of God, come to my
aid.”

The proconsul said to him, “Why do you act against the order?”

The presbyter said, “Thus does the Law order. Thus does the Law
teach.” O divine reply of the learned presbyter, truly wondrous enough
to be proclaimed! Even under torture the presbyter preaches the most holy
Law for which he freely withstood torture. At last, frightened by the
mention of the Law, Anulinus said, “Stop!” Throwing him back into the
confinement of prison he destined him for the suffering for which he
hoped.

§12 Once Emeritus was charged, the proconsul said, “Were assem¬
blies held in your home against the order of the emperor?” Emeritus filled
with the Holy Spirit said to him, “We did hold the Lord’s supper in my
home.” In reply the proconsul said, “Why did you permit them to enter?”
He responded, “Because they are my brothers and sisters and I could not
prevent them from doing so. ” Then the proconsul said, “You should have
prevented them.” In response Emeritus said, “I could not because we

Nonh Africans, especially Donatists, often refer to the Bible as the Law.

Thus Ruinart: tortorem saevire commonuif, other readings offer: terrorem suae irae
commonuit (He brought to mind the horror of his anger).

Donatist Martyr Stories

cannot go without the Lord’s supper.”

At once the proconsul ordered him to be stretched out on the rack, and
once stretched out, to be tortured. After new executioners came on duty,
while he was suffering heavy blows, he said, “I beseech you, O Christ,
come to my aid. You wretches are the ones acting against the command
of God (cf. Acts 5.29).”

The proconsul interrupted, “You should not have admitted them.”
Emeritus responded, “I could not but admit my brothers and sisters. ” Then
the sacrilegious proconsul said, “But the order of the emperors and the
caesars takes priority.” In reply the most pious martyr said, “God is
greater—and not the emperors.I pray, O Christ. Praise to you. Give
me endurance.”

The proconsul interrupted him as he prayed, “Do you have any scrip¬
tures in your home?” He responded, “I have them but they are in my heart
(2 Cor 3.3).” “Do you have them in your home, he said, “or do you
not?” Emeritus the martyr said, “I have them in my heart. I plead, Christ.
Praise to you. Free me, Christ. I suffer in your name.^^ Briefly do I
suffer; freely do I suffer, 0 Christ (cf. 2 Macc 6.30). Lord, let me not
be put to shame (Ps 30.18).”

O martyr, mindful of the Apostle who had the Law of the Lord written
“not in stone but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone
but in the tablets of the fleshy heart (2 Cor 3.3)”! O martyr, most suitable
and diligent custodian of the sacred Law! Trembling at the crime of the
traitors, he placed the scriptures of the Lord within the recesses of his own
heart lest he lose them. Once he heard this, the proconsul said, “Stop!”
and recalling to memory Emeritus’ profession,along with the rest of
the confessions, he said, “For all your misdeeds, you will pay the punish¬
ment merited by your confession.”

§ 13 But now with his countenance changed, the proeonsul’s wild rage
faded, appeased by the torments of the martyrs. But when Felix, both by

Baluze: Deus, inquit, major est quam imperatores (“God,” he said, “is greater than the
emperors”).

” Baluze omits patior, I suffer.

” Here and elsewhere Baluze consistently has confessio for professio. In early Christian
literature the former is almost universally positive, a statement of true faith. Professio,
however, is often used for the statement of (erroneous) faith by a heretic.

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

name and in his suffering,^® had marched forward into combat and the
entire battle line of the Lord stood uninjured and unconquered, the tyrant’s
mind was destroyed, his voice dispirited, his soul and body torn asun¬
der. He said, “I hope that you will choose to obey orders so that you
may live.” In response the confessors of the Lord, the unconquered
martyrs of Christ, spoke as if with one voice: “We are Christians. We
can do no other than to keep the Law of the Lord even unto the shedding
of blood.” Battered by such speech, the enemy said to Felix, “I am not
asking whether you are Christians but whether you held assemblies or
whether you have any scriptures.” O stupid and laughable inquiry of the
judge! He said, “If you are a Christian, shut up about it,” and he added,
“Answer^* whether you were in the assembly.” As if one could be a
Christian without the Lord’s Supper or the Lord’s Supper could be
celebrated without a Christian! Or do you not know, O Satan, that the
Christian exists through the Lord’s Supper and the Lord’s Supper in Chris¬
tians? Neither can exist without the other. When you hear the Name, learn
about the gathering of the Lord, and when you hear ‘assemblies’ recognize
the Name. Then it is you who will be examined by the martyr and it is
you who will be mocked; with such a reply you will be confounded. Felix
added, “We celebrated the most glorious assembly. We always gathered
to read the scriptures of the Lord at the Lord’s Supper.”

Deeply disturbed by this profession,^’ Anulinus united to the heavenly
council the lifeless martyr who had been struek down by the blows of
cudgels and was at that moment hastening to the heavenly judgment seat
now that his suffering has been completed.

§14 But another Felix follows Felix, equal in name and confession,
similar in his very suffering. Contending with equal strength, he was
battered by blows of cudgels. Laying down his life in the torments of
prison, he was united with the previous Felix as a martyr.

After these, Ampelius, guardian of the Law and most faithful protector

“ His name means ‘happy’ or ‘fortunate’.

” Compare the effects of the torture of the martyrs on the body of the man who ordered
the torture with the similar effects in The Passion of Maxima §5, n. 39.

’* Baluze has respondit (he answered) for responde.

” Again Baluze has confessio for professio.

DoNATisr Martyr Stories

of divine scripture, took up the contest. When the proconsul asked whether
he was part of the assembly, lighthearted and secure he answered with
a vigorous voice. He said, “I held an assembly with my brothers and
sisters, I celebrated the Lord’s supper, and I have with me the scriptures
of the Lord. They are written in my heart (2 Cor 3.3). Christ, I give you
praise. Hear me, Christ.” When he had said these things, he was bruised
about the neck. He was happy to be bound up with his brothers, there in
prison, like a light'*'* in the tabernacle of the Lord (cf. Exod 25.31ff).

Rogatianus followed him. Having confessed the name of the Lord, he
was joined unharmed to the aforementioned brothers.

Then Quintus, having been charged and having confessed the name of
the Lord uncommonly well, magnificently, was struck down by blows and
thrust into jail, to be held for a well-deserved martyrdom.

Maximus followed him, his counterpart in confession, similar in combat,
equal in the triumph of victory.

Following him, the younger Felix proclaimed the Lord’s supper as the
hope and salvation of Christians. He himself fell, similarly beset by blows.
He said, “With a faithful spirit, I celebrated the Lord’s supper. I held an
assembly with my brothers and sisters because I am a Christian.” By this
confession, he became worthy to be associated with his aforementioned
brothers.

§15 Now the younger Saturninus, the holy"" offspring of the priest
Saturninus, quickly approached the anticipated battle, hastening to equal
the most glorious virtues of his father. The proconsul under the influence
of the devil said to him, “And you, Saturninus, were you mixed up in
this?”

Saturninus responded, “1 am a Christian.” The proconsul said, “I didn’t
ask you that, but whether you attended the Lord’s supper.”

Saturninus responded, “I attended the Lord’s supper because Christ is
the saviour.” When he heard the name of the saviour, Anulinus grew
angry and prepared the rack used on the father for the son. When Satur¬
ninus had been stretched out, he said, “Saturninus, what evidence do you
offer? Consider your situation. Do you have any scriptures?” Saturninus

*’ Baluze and Ruinart has iam (now) instead of lumen (light).
''' Baluze omits sancta (holy) before progenies (offspring).

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

responded, “I am a Christian.”

The proconsul said: “lam asking whether you assembled and whether
you have any scriptures.” He responded, “I am a Christian. There is no
one else'*^ we ought to consider holy except Christ (cf. Acts 4.12).”

The devil, enraged by this confession, said, “ Because you have remained
obstinate, it is fitting to question you by torture to see whether you have
any scriptures.” And he said to the officials, “Torture him.”

The weary torturers attacked the sides of the son"*^ with lacerations like
those of his father and they mixed the father’s blood which had moistened
the claws with the corresponding blood of the son. Through the furrows
of the open wounds you saw the father’s blood dripping from the sides
of the son and the blood of the son mixed with the father’s dripping from
the moistened claws. But the youth, reinvigorated by the mixture of
familial blood, felt it a healing remedy rather than torment. Fortified by
his torments, he exclaimed with loud cries, “I have the scriptures of the
Lord, but I have them in my heart (2 Cor 3.3). I beg you, Christ, give
me endurance. In you there is hope (Eccl 24.25).

Anulinus said, “Why did you act against the order?”

He responded, “Because I am a Christian.”

When he heard that, Anulinus said, “Stop,” and as soon as the torments
were discontinued, Satuminus was joined in fellowship with his father.

§16 Meanwhile day slid into night as the hours slipped away, and,
with torments swallowed up like the sun, the madness of the exhausted
torturers grew fainf^ along with the cruelty of the judge. But the legions
of the Lord, in whom Christ the eternal light shone forth with the flashing
brightness of heavenly armor,'** bravely and constantly sprang forth into
combat.

The adversary of the Lord was conquered by the most glorious striving
of so many martyrs and was overcome by so many and so great a crowd.
Deserted by day, attacked by night, abandoned now that the anger of the

“■ Ruinart adds nomen, ‘no other name', to conform to the biblical verse.
Baluze has antea (before) for nati (of the son).

Baluze has Spes est vitae (he [Christ] is the hope for life).

Baluze: profligaturus (future) for profligatus (perfect).

■*'’ Ruinart has annorum (years) for armorum.

Donatist Martyr Stories

executioners was dissipating, he was not able to fight with them one by
one, so he strictly interrogates the souls of the whole army of the Lord
and he strikes at the devoted minds of the confessors'*^ with this sort of
interrogation: “You have seen,”"** he said, “what those who have perse¬
vered have sustained and what they still have to sustain if they stand firm
in their confession. Therefore, let any one of you who wishes to acquire
a pardon make a deposition in order to be saved.”

In reply, the confessors of the Lord, the glorious martyrs of Christ,
simultaneously joyful and triumphant (not on account of the proconsul’s
word but on account of victory in suffering), burning with the Holy Spirit,
said strongly and clearly, as if with one voice, “We are Christians.” By
this utterance, the devil was laid low and Anulinus was struck down.
Deeply disturbed and throwing them all into jail, he bound over the holy
ones for martyrdom.

§17 And lest the most devoted sex of women and the brightest band
of holy virgins be deprived of the glory of such a battle, all of the women,
with the help of Christ the Lord, were brought in and crowned in victory.
Now Victoria, the holiest of the women, the flower of virgins, the glory
and grandeur of confessors, came from a respectable family. She was most
devoted to her religion and temperate in her morals. In her the goodness
of nature shone forth in brilliant modesty. To the beauty of her body there
corresponded in her mind an even more beautiful faith and integrity of
holiness. She rejoiced in the second pledge of victory granted to her in
martyrdom for the Lord.'*’

Clear signs of her virtue had been shining forth from her very infancy.
Even in her tender years, a most chaste firmness of mind and a sure
worthiness for her future suffering appeared. Finally, after total virginity
complemented the mature^” part of her life, and when the young woman
unwillingly and reluctantly was forced into a marriage and her parents
gave her a bridegroom against her will, the young woman secretly threw
herself off a cliff so that she might flee the man who would carry her off

Baluze and Ruinart has sanctorum (saints) for confessorum (confessors).
“ Vidistis (you have seen) is not in Ruinart.

The first pledge had been her arrest at Abitina.

For adultum, Baluze has ultimum (final).

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

like booty Supported by compliant breezes, she was received unharmed
on the lap of the earth.She should not have had to suffer for Christ
since she had already died for the sake of her singular modesty.

Therefore, freed from marriage and at the same time from both an
abusive bridegroom and her parents, leaping forth almost from the very
midst of the crowd at the wedding, the unconquered virgin took refuge
at the house of modesty and the harbor of chastity, the Church. There with
unblemished honor she reserved the most holy hair of her head, consecrat¬
ed and dedicated to God in perpetual virginity.” Then, hurrying on to
martyrdom, she held before her in her right hand the flowering palm of
triumphant modesty.

When the proconsul asked her what she professed, she responded with
a clear voice, “I am a Christian.” When Fortunatianus, her distinguished
brother and counselor, said that her mind had been captivated by inane
arguments, Victoria responded: “My mind is made up,” she said, “I’ve
never changed.”

In response the proconsul said, “Do you want to go with Fortunatianus
your brother?”

She answered, “I do not want to because I am a Christian and my
brothers are those who keep the commands of God.”” O young woman,
strengthened by the authority of divine Law! O glorious virgin rightly
consecrated to the eternal king! O most blessed martyr, most famous for
her evangelical profession! With a dominical saying she responded: “My

” Baluze: “when the young woman unwillingly and reluctantly was forced into marriage
by her parents and she suggested that she be unwillingly handed over to a husband as booty,
the young woman secretly threw herself off a cliff.”

’’ See The Passion of Maxima §4 for another young woman’s defenestration in the face
of a forced marriage, and The Martyrdom of Marculus §13 for martyrdom by precipitation.
In this latter case, the earth cares for the body of the saint. On the Christian reconstruction
of suicide as a dishonorable alternative to the loss of virginity, see Dennis Trout, “Re-
textualizing Lucretia: Cultural Subversion in the City of God," Journal of Early Christian
Studies 2/1 (1994), pp, 53-70.

Among North African Christians hairstyle indicated a woman’s marital status. See
Cyprian, On the Dress of Virgins §5 (ANF 5.430) and Optatus §6.4 (Vassall-Phillips, p.
259).

In this context, the biblical referent would be less likely Mt 12.46-50 than the many times
keeping the commandments is referred to in Deuteronomy and Revelation. Cf. 2 Macc. 7.37.

Donatist Martyr Stories

brothers are those who keep the commands of God.”

When he heard these words, Anulinus, laying aside the authority of his
office, stepped down to reason with the young woman. “Have some regard
for your situation,” he said. “You see that your brother is concerned with
providing for your welfare. ” The martyr of Christ said to him, “My mind
is made up. I’ve never changed. I was in the assembly and I celebrated
the Lord’s supper with the sisters and brothers because I am a Christian.”

As soon as he heard these things, Anulinus raging, agitated, and burning
with anger, chained the most holy young woman, the martyr of Christ,
in prison, along with the others. He reserved them all for suffering like
the Lord’s.”

§18 But Hilarianus, one of the children of the presbyter-martyr
Saturninus, still remained. He overcame his diminutive age with his great
devotion. Rushing to be united to the triumph of his father and brothers,
he scarcely feared the dire threats of the tyrant because he reckoned them
as nothing. When it was said to him, “Are you imitating your father or
your brothers?” suddenly a youthful voice is heard from his tiny body and
the little heart of the boy is opened to a full confession of the Lord in his
response; “I am a Christian, and of my own will and volition I attended
the assembly with my father and brothers.”

Have you not been listening to the voice of his father Saturninus the
martyr coming from the sweet lips of his son! Have you not been listening
to the tongue confessing Christ as Lord, secure in the example of his
brother! But the stupid proconsul did not realize that he was not fighting
against humans beings but against God (Acts 5.29) because he did not
notice the great spirit in his youthful years. He thought the boy could be
terrified with infantile torments. At last he said, “I’ll cut off your hair and
nose and ears and I’ll release” you that way (cf. 2 Macc 7.3).”

The child Hilarianus, glorious in the virtues of his father and brothers,
had already learned from his elders to disdain torments; to these remarks
he responded with a clear voice: “Do whatever you wish to do, for I am
a Christian.” Soon he too is ordered to be taken back into the prison and

" Baluze; “like the Lord’s” is missing, denying the Donatists’ martyrs any likeness to the
Lord of the Catholics.

Baluze and Ruinart have dimitto (present tense) for dimittam (fumre tense).

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

the voice of Hilarianus is heard saying with great joy: “Thanks be to
God.”

Here one battle in the great war is brought to an end; here the devil is
overcome and conquered; here the martyrs of Christ rejoice with eternal
joy concerning the eternal glory of their future suffering.

§19^* For truly, as we have already said, the time of schism admonish¬
es us by so many and such great confessions to collect the pronouncements
of the martyrs and to link the most holy injunctions of the friends of God
to the preceding deeds. By necessity I shall review only briefly all those
things which the martyrs in prison did ordain on the basis of divine Law
and which they leave reserved for those who succeed them. In my haste
I shall omit neither the arrogance of the lapsed nor the impudence of the
traitors because faith, love of the Law, the condition of the Church, public
welfare and the common life force me to omit nothing that happened.
Based on this account, one will be able to recognize which church is the
Catholic Church, if the pestiferous defect of the traitors is revealed for
all ages by their impious deeds as well as by the judgment of the martyrs.

Therefore, after the long-desired prison received the above mentioned
martyrs of Christ, the confessors there, whose cases had already been
postponed, joined their triumphant right hands to the hands of the victors
as they entered. Moreover, many other confessors came to that same place
from diverse parts of the province. Among them were bishops, presbyters,
deacons and others of clerical rank. They all upheld the Law of the Lord
and steadfastly and bravely celebrated the assembly of the Lord. They
saved the scriptures of the Lord and the divine testaments from flames
and burning. For the sake of the divine Law, they offered their very selves
to menacing fires and diverse tortures in the manner of the Maccabees
(cf. 2 Macc 6.1-7.42).

§20 Even though in this calamity the terrible prison and thick darkness
held the most faithful witnesses of God closed up within them and subdued
their faithful members with the heavy weight of chains, even though
hunger weakened them, thirst exhausted them, and cold battered them.

’’ The narrative does not include their executions which take place, according to the
introduction, at various times and places.

“ §§19-23 are not found in Ruinart,

Donatist Martyr Stories

and the crowd pressed the very sides broken at last by a recent mangling
with claws, nevertheless, gathering together as a council, amidst chains
of iron and all the instruments of torture, on the authority of divine Law,
they established a heavenly decree which the martyrs preserved for
themselves and their descendants.

Truly the living Spirit, the Holy Spirit, directed the minds of the
confessors by infusing them with eternal and divine discourse. Then after
the cruel calamity and the horrible threats of persecution, when by these
threats tyraimical rage had attacked the Christian religion, so that the
eternal peace of the Christian Name might shine ever more pure and more
serene, there was lacking neither intense deception on the part of all those
traitors nor the conspiracy of the noxious remainder of those whose faith
had been shipwrecked. These were brought together by diabolical art
which, under the guise of religion, attacked faith, overturned law and
disturbed divine authority. When Mensurius, so-called bishop of Carthage,
polluted by the recent handing over of scripture, repented of the malice
of his misdeeds and then began to reveal greater crimes, he who had had
to beg and implore from the martyrs’ pardon for burning the books, raged
against the martyrs with the same resolve with which he had handed over
the divine laws, thus adding to his transgressions even more shameful acts.
More ruthless than the tyrant, more bloody than the executioner, he chose
Caecilian his deacon as a suitable minister of his misdeeds and he stationed
him before the doors of the prison, armed with whips and lashes so he
might turn away from the entrance and exit all those who brought food
and drink to the martyrs in prison, further harming those already wronged
by grave injustice. People who came to nourish the martyrs were struck
down right and left by Caecilian. The cups for the thirsty inside in chains
were broken. At the entrance to the prison food was scattered only to be
torn apart by the dogs. Before the doors of the prison the fathers of the
martyrs fell and the most holy mothers. Shut out from the sight of their
children,^’ they kept their vigil day and night at the entrance of the
prison. There was the dreadful weeping and the bitter lamentation by all
who were there. To keep the pious from the embrace of the martyrs and
to keep Christians from a duty of piety, Caecilian was more ruthless than

Baluze has excussi (forced out or away) rather than exclusi (shut out).

The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

the tyrant, more bloody than the executioner.

§21 Meanwhile neither the squalor of prison nor the pain of the flesh
nor, finally, the lack of anything disturbed the martyrs of Christ. But al¬
ready near to the Lord by their merits and their confession, they directed
those who succeeded them, the renewed progeny of the Christian name,
to be separated from all filth and communion with traitors by this warning:
“If anyone communicates with the traitors, that person will have no part
with us in the heavenly kingdom. ” And they endorsed this verdict of theirs
by the authority of the Holy Spirit written in such evidence: “It is writ¬
ten,” they said, “in the Apocalypse, ‘Whoever adds to this book one part
of a letter or one letter, to him will the Lord add innumerable afflictions.
And whoever blots them out, so will the Lord blot out his share from the
Book of Life (Rev 22.18-19).’ If, therefore, a part of a letter added or
a letter omitted cuts off a person at the roots from the Book of Life (cf.
2 Macc 7.9) and if such constitutes a sacrilege, it is necessary that all
those who handed over the divine testaments and the honored laws of the
omnipotent God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to be burned in profane fires
should be tormented in the eternal flames of Gehenna and inextinguishable
fire. And, therefore, as we have already said, ‘If anyone communicates
with the traitors, that person will not have a share with us in the heavenly
kingdom.’”

Sharing in these judgments, one by one, they hurried off to the glory
of suffering and to the ultimate testimony. Each one of the martyrs signed
the judgment with their own blood. Accordingly, the Holy Church follows
the martyrs and curses the treachery of the traitor Mensurius.*

§22 Therefore, these things being so, would anyone who is strong
in the knowledge of divine law, endowed with faith, outstanding in
devotion and most holy*' in religion, who realizes that God the Judge
discerns truth from error, distinguishes faith from faithlessness, and
isolates false pretense from sure and intact holiness, God who separates
the upright from the lapsed, the unimpaired from the wounded, the just

“ Baluze and some manuscripts do not include the name of Mensurius; these appear to
have been edited to blame the crime on the traitors as a group without mentioning the
Catholic bishop by name.

Baluze: sanctus (holy); all others have sanctissimus (most holy).

Donatist Martyr Stories

from the guilty, the innocent from the condemned, the custodian of the
Law from the traitor, the confessor of the name of Christ from the denier,
the martyr of the Lord from the persecutor, would that person think that
the church of the martyrs and the conventicle of traitors is one and the
same thing? Of course, no one does. For these repel each other so and
they are as contrary to each other as light is to darkness, life to death, a
holy angel to the devil, Christ to the Antichrist. As Paul the Apostle said:
“Open your hearts to me as children and do not be joined to unbelievers.
For what sharing is there between justice and iniquity or what communion
between light and darkness? What accord is there between Christ and
Belial,“ what small share between a believer and an unbeliever, what
agreement between the temple of God and idols? For you are the temple
of the living God. He says, ‘I will live in them and I will walk among
them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Because of this,
go out from their midst and separate,’ says the Lord God almighty, ‘and
do not touch the unclean and I will take you back and I will be a father
to you and you shall be my sons and daughters,’ says the Lord almighty
(2 Cor 6.13-18).”

On account of this, the good must flee the conspiracy of the traitors,
the home of hypocrites, and the judgments of the Pharisees, and the devout
must always avoid them. Would that those spiritually born should worthily
succeed to adoption as the sons and daughters of God in the holy Church
and would that they not be sunk in the crimes of others, acquiring dark¬
ness instead of light, death instead of life, destruction instead of salvation!
Such is the nature of the Church of the Lord that 1 do not say “this part”
because it is one alone and cannot be split or divided into two parts. But
after the horrible night of persecution and the pestilential whirlwinds of
tyrants, the Devil by a craftiness of the most adroit fraud devises for
himself a council of the shipwrecked® to deceive the innocent and to
plunder the people. Thus if he cannot swallow down people in the clear
disaster of persecution and he cannot hold them fast in the bonds of trans¬
gression in a sacrilegious sect in the service of idols for their everlasting
destruction, joining those to himself with polluted traitors, he destroys

Baluze alone omits this clause.

"I. e.,of those who have denied their faith. Cf. Cyprian, OntheLapsed 15 (ANF 5.441),

THE Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs

them under the pretext of most holy religion. Then spurious rites of the
holy and pretended mysteries^ are celebrated not so much for salvation
as for the ruin of those wretches, since the impious man erects the altar,
the profane celebrates the sacraments, the guilty baptizes, the wounded
cures, the persecutor venerates the martyrs, the traitor reads the Gospel,
the one who burned the divine testaments promises the inheritance of
heaven. It is these whom the Lord rebukes and reproves in the gospel
saying: “Woe to you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you circle
the sea and the dry land to make a single proselyte. And when you have
made him, you make him a son of Gehenna more duplicitous than you
yourselves are (Mt 23.15).” Rejecting their polluted sacrifices, he said
through the prophet: “Their sacrifices are like the bread of affliction;
anyone who has touched it will be defiled (Hos 9.4).” Through Haggai
the most famous prophet: “The Lord says ‘Ask the priests about the law.
If a person receives consecrated meat in the fold of the garment and the
fold of the garment touches another portion of bread, wine, or oil, will
it be made holy? And the priests will say, “No.”’ And the Lord said, ‘If
a person polluted in his soul touched anything of these things, will it be
polluted?’ And the priests said, “It will be polluted.’” The Lord said,
‘Thus it is with this people and this nation before me.’ So says the Lord
and whoever will be like this will be polluted (Hag 2.12-13).”

§23 Therefore, one must flee and curse the whole corrupt congrega¬
tion of all the polluted people and all must seek the glorious lineage of
the blessed martyrs, which is the one, holy, and true Church, from which
the martyrs arise and whose divine mysteries^ the martyrs observe. She
and she alone broke the force of infernal persecution; she preserved the
law of the Lord even to the shedding of blood. In her the virtues of the
people are cultivated in the presence of the Holy Spirit, saving baptism
is performed, life is renewed forever. God remains ever merciful to them.
The Lord Christ is here and with the Holy Spirit rejoices and is glad,
victor among the confessors, conqueror among the martyrs.

[ At last, since neither Mensurius nor his minister Caecilian wished to
pull back from this monstrous cruelty, and Anulinus the proconsul and

'’■* Mysteria (mysteries) is a technical term for the sacraments.
Baluze alone has testamenta (scriptures) rather than mysteria.

Donatist Martyr Stories

the other persecutors were occupied meanwhile with other business, these
blessed martyrs, deprived of bodily nourishment, little by little over a
period of days, forced by the atrocity of hunger, left their natural state
and migrated to the heavenly realms with their palm of martyrdom, led
by our Lord Jesus Christ who with the Father reigns forever and ever.
Amen.“]

This is the end of the confessions and the judicial record of the martyrs
Saturninus the presbyter and his companions.*’

“ This paragraph occurs in none of the surviving manuscripts but only in one of the sources
for the edition of Baluze which was published in Migne. It appears to be an attempt to
account for the deaths of the martyrs, not otherwise narrated. As such, it hardly accords
with the opening paragraph of the story which has them meeting their deaths at various times
in different places.

” This paragraph is not recorded in Baluze.

A Sermon on the Passion of
Saints Donatus and Advocatus
Given on the 4th Day before the
Ides of March

Introduction

In 311 Donatists refused to accept the ordination of Caecilian as bishop
of Carthage. They ordained their own bishop, Majorinus, and appealed
to the emperor Constantine for recognition as the true Church in North
Africa. Constantine impanelled a commission of bishops at Rome in 312
to judge between the parties supporting Caecilian and Majorinus. The
commission vindicated Caecilian. The dissidents refused to accept the
judgment and appealed again to the emperor. In response, Constantine
formed a second episcopal commission, this time composed of bishops
from Gaul. When their judgment in favor of Caecilian was not accepted,
Constantine commissioned a military force to pacify the dissidents.

This sermon dates from the first period of the repression of the Donatists
(317-321) when membership in the pro- and anti-Caecilianist groups was
still fluid. Inspirational sermons or the offer of governmental subsidies
might sway individuals or entire congregations to change allegiance.

Contrary to its traditional title, it does not contain accounts of saints
named Donatus and Advocatus. The title may come from a combination
of two facts. First, the sermon is attributed to Donatus, the eponymous
founder of the movement. Second, the sermon records, inter alia, the
martyrdom of the unnamed bishop of the town of Avioccala. The name
of the town may have been transmuted to the personal name Advocatus.

Stories of a mass martyrdom and of the torture and execution of the

A Sermon on the Passion of Saints donatus and Advocatus

bishop are set within a sermon designed at its climax to inflame cate¬
chumens with a desire to follow their fellow citizens and the revered
bishop into glory. The sermon is thought to have been delivered not long
after the events narrated, between 317 and 320.‘ Like The Acts of the
Abitinian Martyrs, it survives in versions which are labelled ‘Donatist’
and ‘Catholic’. The Donatist version again is the earlier of the two and
is the one used here.^ The text is from PL 8.752-58. A lightly edited
version is printed in Maier 1.201-211.

Translation

§ 1 If we have not written in vain of well-known acts of persecution,
and on this annual solemnity we read them not unadvisedly in honor of
the martyrs and for the edification of believers, why don’t we likewise
write and read of cunning deceits and seductive snares of deception, those
deeds which by dishonest fraud destroy souls under the pretext of religion.
Instruction is even more necessary when there is no obvious contention
on an issue, because it is easy for a belligerent group to mislead someone,
especially when it is one’s nearest neighbor. “And one’s foes,” the Bible
says, “will be members of one’s own household” (Mt 10.36 and Mi 7.6).

Now then, suppressing the praises of the martyrs out of envious silence
is contrary to the obligations of religion and piety. So also is hiding what
is beneficial under the protection of misleading silence. It is as dangerous
for the prudent not to speak of this as it is injurious to the honest not to
understand. As it is indeed easy for the unwary to be deceived by liars

' Jean-Paul Brisson, Autonomisme et Christianisme dans I'Afrique romaine de Septime
Severe d I'invasion vandale (Paris: Boccard, 1958), p. 310, considers it a sermon of Donatus
preached in March 318 or 319. Frend, TDC, p. 321 (cf. pp, 159-60), makes no claims about
the identity of the author, but ascribes it to the year 320. For a summary of various argu¬
ments concerning the dating of the text see “Der Sermo de passione sanctorum Donati et
Advocati als donatistisches Selbstzeugnis” by Knut Schaferdiek in Oecumenica et Patristica:
Festschrift fur Wilhelm Schneemelcher zum 75. Geburstag, edited by Damaskinos Papan-
dreou, Wolfgang A. Bienert and Knut Schaferdiek (Stuttgart, Berlin and Cologne: W.
Kohlhammer, 1989), pp. 175-98, specifically, pp. 176-77.

^ Francois Dolbeau, “La Passion des saints Lucius et Montanus: Histoire et edition du
texte,” REA 29 (1983), pp. 64-65.

Donatist Martyr Stories

who use the name of Christ, so also it is necessary for the ministers of
the Antichrist to flee from that Name. Therefore, when one discovers
wolves hiding in sheep’s clothing, either those who were deceived by
ignorance will be set free (once they are instructed) or the insolent will
perish in their vice (without Christian preaching being at fault or in any
danger). Thus, there is a reason for exposing what has been done, and
it is fully beneficial and just, because the faithful are being strengthened
by recalling these events and the neophytes whom they stir up to bear their
trials are also strengthened, and by discovering their enemies, they learn
to condemn them.

Therefore, may sweet mother Church proclaim the enduring faith of her
children. May the den of the most cruel thieves call to mind the fruit of
their work (cf. Mt 21.13).

§2 Now then, let’s proceed with the situation. The incident occurred
at Carthage when Caecilian Eudinepisus^ was there, and Leontius had
been appointed comes, Ursatius was dux, Marcellinus tribune, and the
Devil appeared as counsellor for all of them.’' Their practices were rooted
in the old Serpent^ who had already showed himself the enemy of the
Christian Name. By deceitful fraud, he strove to lay hold of those he could
not conquer by direct persecution. The author of deception lay hidden so
that his deception might proceed more easily. But divine precepts are
always the arms of victory for those who recognize the snares of the
Flatter, and they are not frightened by his raging harassment.

So the hostile contriver did not deceive the wary and vigilant by his

’ This appellation appears to be not a surname but a misreading of pseudoepiscopus, the
so-called (and thus false) bishop.

Caecilian was the Catholic bishop. Little is known of the others, all Roman officials,
Leontius was comes in Africa 317-321. Ursatius is known from Augustine’s works as a prime
persecutor of Donatists, See Contra Utteras Petiliani 2.92,202 and Contra Cresconium
3.30.34 (CSEL 52.125 and 441). Marcellinus was tribune in Africa 317-321 and is not to
be confused with the friend of Augustine by the same name who convoked the Conference
of Carthage in 411. As tribune, he commanded a military unit on the frontier. For a
discussion of these offices, see above, “Legal and Literary Notes," n. 40, the articles
comites, dux, and tribunus by Henry M. D. Parker in The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd
ed., edited by N. G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard (Oxford: Clarendon, 1970), and those
by Otto Seeck in PW.

^ l.e,, Satan.

A Sermon on the Passion of Saints Donatus and Advocatus

charming conduct. The people whom he long ago publicly humiliated
could have been brought back by penance to Him whom they had denied.
The Lord himself does not wish the death of the one who is perishing but
rather that that person should return and live (cf. Ezek 33.11). He was
ready to receive the confession of those who were sorry. Knowing this,
when the contriver came face to face with times of peace, by worldly
seduction, he revived those minds he had overcome in battle by fear of
torture.* He took away their humility, the only way to tame the anger of
an indignant God, and he substituted pride, which he knew for certain
would gravely offend God. He promoted the idea that the lapsed, the
deserters of heavenly sacraments, could illicitly hold ecclesiastical office
again. ^

As much as he recently took pleasure in their weakness of faith, so now
he rejoices in this fraud. He is even more secure when they are called
‘bishops’ or ‘Christians’, than when they fell to ruin in their denial of the
Christian name. He has these nominal enemies while he remains secure
in deception. As we have already said, this is how he holds onto those
he deceives by this false use of the Name. Not only does he delight these
miserable men with vainglory but he also ensnares the greedy by royal
friendship and earthly gifts.*

§3 Nevertheless, this rapacious robber was frustrated that he did not
control everyone by this ruse. So the enemy of salvation concocted a more
subtle conceit to violate the purity of faith. “Christ,” he said, “is the lover

'’Those who were wavering, about to abjure theiralliance with the traditores, were deterred
from repenting of their association with them by the prospect of being persecuted for being
Donatists.

’ Donatists did not allow Catholic leaders who joined the Donatist fold to continue to
preside over their congregations. They were admitted to the Donatist church as members
of the laity. Catholics, on the other hand, recognized pastoral necessity and political pmdence
in cases where an entire Donatist congregation went over to the Catholic side under the
leadership of its priest or bishop. Donatists treated schismatic Donatists remrning to their
church on a case-by-case basis. Augustine exploited the inconsistencies he perceived in this
policy. See A. C. De Veer, "L’exploitation du schisme maximianiste par Saint Augustin
dans la lutte contre le Donatisme,” Recherches Augustiniennes 3 (1965), pp. 219-37.

" See Eusebius, EH 10.5.15-17 (2.453-55) for the letter of Constantine toCaecilian, bishop
of Carthage, on the restoration of church property confiscated during the persecutions before
312.

Donatist Martyr Stories

of unity. Therefore, let there be unity.” Those people who were already
fawning on him and were deserted by God came to be called ‘Catholics’.
By prejudice in favor of the name, those who refused to communicate with
them were called ‘heretics’. He sent funds so that he might weaken their
faith or provide an occasion for avarice through the publication of the
law.’ But when the course of justice holds firm and inflexible in the face
of these seductive temptations, judges are ordered to intervene; the secular
powers are forced to use coercion.Homes are encircled with battle
standards; at the same time, threats of proscriptions are launched against
the rich. Sacraments are profaned; crowds are bedecked with idolatry;
holy assemblies are transformed into splendid banquets.

§4 O most faithful brothers and sisters, it is a crime even to publish
what was said and done among the banquets of lascivious youths where
despicable women were present.

How swiftly and completely did the situation change! The basilica,
shameful to say, was turned into a fast-food restaurant. What grief to see
such a crime in the house of the Lord, this place accustomed to pious
prayers, now profaned by impure deeds and illegitimate incantations! Now
I ask you, what person in whatever desperate condition would allow this
to be done in their own home? No one would consent except the sort of
person who would actually do it. Who denies that such deeds have the
children of the Devil as their authors? Who calls the authors of the actions
Christians, except the person who wishes to excuse the Devil himself or
to disavow Christ the Lord? What diligence by the Serpent! So many evils
let loose! How many hatched so that its family might assume the divine
Name and hide itself from that Name, the Name it disgraces by its deeds!
O the strength of the divine patience so worthy of praise, bearing up while
the villainy of evil is spreading! Divine patience puts up with having the
deeds of the crafty enemy imputed to itself or to its Name. Let no one
think that something trivial happens when so many schisms and heresies
arise. Satan’s disguise surely dishonors God and Christ though his wicked

’ See Eusebius, EH 10.6.1-5 (2.461-463) for Constantine’s letter to Caecilian regarding
funds to be distributed to Catholics only.

No copy of the edict of unity has survived. For a discusssion of the events leading up
to it and of its enforcement, see Frend, TDC, pp, 155-161.

56 A Sermon on the Passion of Saints Donatus and Advocatus
ministry and adulterous work.

§5 But lest we wander too far from the main point, let us omit their
defilement of holy virgins. I repress any mention of their slaughter of the
priests of God. I keep silent about their assaults, their pillaging, their
booty. This way even they may know that we deliberately select few things
from among many and we expose it quickly and modestly, seeing that we
are eager not to exact vengeance on our enemies but to free the souls of
these miserable people from the jaws of the ravenous wolf, indeed from
the very mouth of the Dragon (Mt 7.15; cf. Ezek 22.27).

Therefore, the one who corrupts holy discipline could violate the chastity
of faith under the by-word of unity, i.e., by compelling unity with himself,
not with God. Neither the rulers of this world nor those of darkness
arrange things to happen in such a way that what is ordered might reveal
the person giving the order. What glorious examples, how many glorious
examples of ‘the Church of God’ or ‘the Church of Christ’ issue among
them? What signs of Christian confession? What exiles, public tokens of
true faith and perfect devotion, might there be? By these deeds truth
obviously could not lie hidden unless someone in defiance of conscience
determined to place their hope in deceit just as the prophet said (cf. Jer
7.4 and 13.25).

§6 Let us proceed to the final events. They erupted in open threats
and unmistakable fury once their subterfuges failed and their snares wore
out. At that time you could have seen bands of soldiers serving the Furies
of the traditors. They were brought together to perform a crime, but they
were thinking only of pay. They stood around with most attentive curiosity
lest mercenary cruelty be allowed to do something too gently. The cruel
mercenaries asserted that attention to so improper a spectacle was not so
much defense of a perverse claim, as the exaction of blood according to
some contract.

Although the people of God might have anticipated the coming slaughter
and known about it from the arrangements being made, they did not flee
out of fear of an imminent death. On the contrary, they flew undaunted
to the house of prayer with a desire to suffer. There faith grazed on the
sacred readings, and prescribed fasts fed them with continual prayers.
When these souls are delivered into the hands of the iniquitous, by their
prayers they are actually commended into the hands of God (cf. Lk
23.46). Behold, in imitation of the Lord’s passion, this cohort of soldiers

Donatist Martyr Stories

marshalled by latter-day Pharisees sets forth from their eamps to the death
of Christians. Against innocent hands stretched out to the Lord, their right
hands are armed with cudgels (cf. Mt 26.47). But it may be said that those
who are not slaughtered by the sword are no less martyrs for having been
beaten to death in this impious massacre."

§7 The sword of the tribune had not yet pierced though the honored
throat of the holy bishop of Siciliba,but it pricked him and the rage of the
devil revealed who his agents were. In the same way the patienee of the
glorious bishop revealed the Church of Christ. No one else appears as
servant of Christ the Lord as much as someone who suffered the same
things as the Lord. It says: “No servant is greater than his master; if they
persecute me, they will persecute you (Jn 15.20).” This is why these blind
‘servants of God’ who are loved by the world show how the Lord himself
was ‘loved’ by the world. If the world does not love even those who are
its own, it is necessary for it to hate those whom the Lord Jesus ehose
from out of the world. It says: “If you were from the world, the world
would love what is its own; but because you are not from the world, since
I have chosen you from out of the world, for that reason does the world
hate you (Jn 15.19).”

§8 Finally, bloodshed marked the end of this hatred. Now the
soldiers endorsed the contract and the covenant of crime in no other way
than by the seal of blood. Everyone kept their eyes shut tight while eaeh
age group and sex was killed, cut down in the midst of the basiliea. It is
this very basilica, I say, between whose walls so many bodies were cut
down and buried. Here, in the inscriptions, memory preserves the name
of the persecution as Caecilianist until the end of time, lest after his
episeopate the parricide deceive others who were not privy to the things
done in his name.

§9 Not without cause then do we celebrate this anniversary with
religious devotion, for we must honor this day as the day on whieh the
entire Church of God confessed its faith and was then crowned by the

'' This alludes to the belief that the only true martyrs were those who had actually shed
blood. Thus a person beaten to death without the breaking of the skin would be considered
less than a martyr. The author obviously repudiates this differentiation among those dying
for their faith.

58 A Sermon on the Passion of Saints Donatus and Advocatus

right hand of Christ the Lord, the eternal judge. This day will reflect on
how Highest Piety itself did not permit everyone to be butchered here.
Scrutinizing the hearts of all, God honors with the reward of the martyrs
those whom He saw suffering with the full measure of devotion, for He
seeks not the blood but the faith of believers. However, we must hold
Caecilian responsible for the blood of all, for we are sure that he arranged
for the whole populace to be killed.

§10 Nonetheless, there was an even greater madness: even after so
nefarious a deed, the killer thought he could take control of the same
basilica, as if she should submit herself to his love for the place.

There were some Christians who escaped. He saw them holding life in
this present age as of little value. I suspect he thought that after that gory
disgrace when he had sought their blood, after the disaster of the handing
over of Scriptures, he had to ingratiate himself with them. So he persecut¬
ed those who avoided the contagion of communion with him while he
promised indemnification to those who would communicate with him even
after he had committed the killings. O imprudence mixed with vanity and
madness! This is how the vilest of robbers was blinded. He thought that
he had to introduce his plan, but unwittingly he was thwarted by his own
arrangements.

§11 Once more then, we must lay before your eyes the violence of
his power; now it must be seen, now it must be pondered in the mind.
At the same moment when the priest of God is being sacrificed before the
altar of the holy Name, in that minute when the young catechumen, not
yet privy to a knowledge of the sacraments, now almost dead, most
ardently seeks the grace of the saving bath,‘^ it says to him, “Come to
me.” His soul is surely near God now. With his last thirsting gasp he
shows that he wishes to partake of this great sacrament so that, just as in
the Lord’s passion, water might be joined to blood.

§12 But then the renowned bishop came from Avioccala to Carthage.
He was received as a ‘guest’ with the kindness of their ‘Catholic’ hospital¬
ity so that after the fatigue of such a journey he did not even get the
chance to drink a sip of water before he himself slaked the thirst of the
insatiable gullet of the traitors with a cup of his own blood.

I.e., the water of Baptism.

Donatist Martyr Stories

And so, I think we must inquire what sort of apostasy this may be if
it is so worthily called ‘Catholic’. For as an enemy of the Name, it
manages quite well to the enormous detriment of the Name, so that the
common people take it as Catholic when they [the Caecilianists] commit
without penalty what is censured under common law.

§13 While the tribune had prepared to indulge the wishes of the
traitors and an abundance of blood had cooled the heat of their cruelty,
some of the brethren entered the basilica again for however much time
they could and held funerals for the martyrs. What passion of soul! What
groans of lamentation! What devotion! Dashing among the bodies of the
massacred, they hurried to identify each of those lying there. When
children happened on the bodies of their parents cast upon the ground,
and parents on the bodies of their children, you could see some of them
holding their dead in their arms. Others half-dead themselves sank down
in grief at the unexpected sight. Still others applied their pious hands to
the task of collecting the bodies. The bodies of both sexes were touching
each other, lying there as would not have otherwise been fitting. Even if
they could not give them a proper funeral, they at least returned the limbs
to their proper places.

Already the twilight was trying to shut out the light of that day and so
right away many bodies were hurriedly brought from the places where
they had been scattered. The Spirit was fortifying those who labored
piously so that there where the pastor lay transfixed, in that same place
the flock of sheep would be gathered round about in their own passion
(cf. Mt 23.35). This very fact bore witness from heaven on behalf of their
deed: those who offered themselves to God as a sacrifice, by their
encircling arrangement, provide a crown for the altar of God. Thus the
bishop’s funeral rites had indicated his priesthood to the people who
attended, and, once he had advanced to martyrdom, he could delight in
the company and in the funeral rites of his co-martyrs.'^

This indicates the arrangement of the bodies both of those who were slain on the floor
of the church and of those who were later buried in the floor of the church around the
bishop, a custom called burial ad sanctos. Christians often buried martyrs together under
the floors of churches near the altar. The earliest evidence of burial ad sanctos comes from
The Acts of Maximilian 3! A (Musurillo, p. 249) where the pious woman Pompeiana arranges
for the burial of the martyr Maximilian near the grave of Cyprian in 295. Later she herself

A Sermon on the Passion of Saints Donatus and Advocatus

§14 O mystery truly divine, so very different from human wisdom!
Thus says the Lord through the prophet: “My thoughts are not your
thoughts,” he says, “nor are my ways your ways: for as far as heaven
is from the earth, so far are my ways from your ways, and your thoughts
from my understanding (Isa 55.8-9).”

To be slain in the battle line as an adversary of the Gentiles, “* this is
victory; to be killed by the enemy in our combat is triumph. But the
murderer who has lived on after his victory is truly a wretched conqueror.

Rejoice and exult, holy mother Church. Instructed in heavenly teachings,
you struggle unsullied in a battle for which you cannot be blamed. If you
have to resist, you resist with the power of the soul, not with arms; if you
fight, it is with faith not force. A multiplicity of battles tests you on earth,
crowns you in heaven, and commends you to the Lord Christ. Thus the
one conquers who after victory does not know how to be conquered again;
thus the one triumphs for whom triumph has no bounds. Only you can
fight piously; only you can derive your advantage from the wickedness
of others; only you can be crowned with a pure and virgin conscience by
Christ. To him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

was buried near the two men. For a full discussion of the custom, see Yvette Duval, Aupres
des saints corps et ame: L ’inhumation ‘ad sanctos' dans la chretiente d 'Orient et d 'Occident
du Iir au Vir siecle (Paris: Etudes Augustinennes, 1988), especially pp. 52-55.

The identification of the Catholics as Gentiles reinforces the Donatist self-identification
as the collecta, the assembly of Israel.

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac

Introduction

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac records the execution of Maximian
and the death in prison of his companion Isaac as well as the deaths of
others at sea. Section 3 of the text places the events during the second
period of the repression of the Donatists, which occurred from 346 to 348.
The titulus (bracketed in the translation) dates the execution to August
25th, but the more textually sure date in §12 places the event on August
15th. Section 12 also indicates that some events took place on a day which
was coincidentally a Saturday and eighteen before the Kalends of Septem¬
ber. Since this coincidence occurred during this period only in 347, the
events are dated to that year. ‘

The story is traditionally attributed to Macrobius, a Donatist bishop
residing at Rome (perhaps in exile) as late as 366. Its exhortation to
martyrdom in §18 would suggest a date of composition between the
martyrdom on August 15, 347, and the end of the persecution in 348. This
would fit well with the mention of the decree of unity in §3 for this
imperial edict reached North Africa in the Spring of 347 and enforcement
began in earnest on June 29, 347.^

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac is almost formulaic in its descrip¬
tions of tortures and in the report of Isaac’s dream,^ but it is distinctive
in its record of the event which transpired after the deaths of Maximian
and Isaac. The passion tells how prison authorities endeavored to keep
the execution of Donatist martyrs from exciting public opinion and from
providing relics to be honored. Here we have a focus on the care for the
confessors similar to that in the Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs. But instead

' See the calculations in Monceaux 5.86-87 and Maier 1.270.

- See Frend, TDC, pp. 178-79.

’ Cf. §§8-9 with The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas §10 (Musurillo, pp. 117-119).

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac

of a Christian bishop interdicting supplies for the bodies of living Chris¬
tians, this story tells of the removal of the suffering confessors from the
reach of the supporting community.

Indeed, the theme harks back to the martyrdom of Polycarp (d. 155/56).
Roman officials at Smyrna tried to keep Christians from claiming the body
of Polycarp lest they venerate his remains.'* However, at Carthage prison
guards attempted to prevent the collection of relics in a novel way. They
prepared a ship and loaded it with imprisoned Donatists vivi pariter cum
defunctis (the living as well as the dead), along with, no doubt, common
criminals. After they sailed out to deep water, they weighted the bodies
of the Christians with casks full of sand and dumped the bodies of all the
prisoners together into the sea. The officials thought that none of the
bodies of the martyrs would wash up on the shore. Even if some of the
bodies eventually did, they reasoned, how could the Christians tell the
waterlogged and disfigured bodies of the martyrs from those of other
prisoners?

But Nature itself cooperated to frustrate the wicked jailers, and the
waves separated the bodies of the martyrs from those of the criminals,
returning the bodies of the saints to the shore.^ As in The Passion of
Maxima §6 where a bear recognized the holiness inherent in the flesh of
the martyrs, so here the ocean depths venerate the bodies of the holy ones.

The translation is based on Maier, pp. 259-75. Migne presents two
versions by early French patristic scholars, Louis Ellies Dupin (1657-
1719) and Jean Mabillon (1632-1707). Dupin’s edition (PL 8.767-74)
contains notes on variants of a manuscript from Corbie in France. Mabil-
lon’s (PL 8.778-84) is only part of the text, from the second paragraph
of §5 to the end. Differences between Maier’s versions and those of Migne
are noted where they are significant for the historical narrative.

The paragraph numbers correspond to the divisions in Maier’s edition;
Migne has none.

“ See The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp §§17-18 in Musurillo, pp. 15-17.
' See §§14-16.

Donatist Martyr Stories

Translation

[Here begins the passion of the holy martyrs Isaac and Maximian, which
took place on the seventh before the Kalends of September.*]

§ 1 This is a fitting occasion and I am happy to write to you, brothers
and sisters. My zeal for a glorious exhortation along with this outstanding
opportunity inflames me. Though I am unworthy to be a witness to the
witnesses of Christ, I am writing this letter so that I who am hardly
suitable to offer my own account of their martyrdom for the Lord might
be allowed to bear witness concerning his martyrs. In short, I would not
dare to offer a final word in writing about such martyrs to such an
audience except that if I did not announce it to you, I would be jealous
with the blameless jealousy of the devoted heart of anyone else who did
so.

I know that no one can tell the story better than the person who suffered
it or accomplished it. But the one who did not merit either commits a fault
only by not making an appropriate report. More likely a person does not
take any opportunity to do so unless that person suffered blamelessly
whatever they had suffered boldly and joyfully in praise of Christ.

§2 Therefore, I believe it is fitting, sisters and brothers, to consider
an example of unsuspected virtue, that is, how the Lord took to heaven
the twin martyrs of the church at Carthage, Isaac and Maximian, or
simultaneously Maximian and Isaac. I think it is difficult to be able to
describe their triumphs in proper order. One can hardly count their earthly
commendations much less the heavenly accolades which Christ accorded
them. Surely they accomplished the deeds of the entire conflict so quickly
that I do not know what came first, second, or third. They combined their
greatness and all their glory with such hasty speed they were almost
finished before they had begun or, as I should more truthfully say, their
deeds came to birth at the same time in both of them. So where shall I
begin? At what point shall I open the door of praise and where shall I
close it when I leave? I am confused about how to open, and I am vexed
about how to close.’ If I begin by recalling the character of the entire life.

August 25th; but see the discussion on dating in the introduction to this story.

’ This is a common rhetorical opening; see TJie Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §1.

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac

I shall seem to slight the martyrdom when I come to it. If I digress and
go directly to preaching about martyrdom, I shall be considered disdainful
of so great a biography because I narrowed my topic. I am urged to
recount everything and I know that I cannot do so. The burden of this
devout work hems me in on every side, but a saying preserved in the
gospel comes to mind as a consolation. A person should have no fear in
trying to express this memorial to martyrdom since that person will see
the Lord Jesus praising him at the end of his life.*

§3 Here at Carthage the savagery of persecution remained dormant
in such a way that, while it was in remission for quite a while,’ it was
nourishing even worse trickery. While the enemy was lying in wait
everywhere, here alone fears and terrors were keeping silence, so that you
might say that the powers of the world had no plans to take action. It
excited no venerable ears or hearts. Only the consolation of rumor about
your uncounted martyrs of Numidia encouraged the souls of our brothers
and sisters.'” The joy of your glories filled every house as if it were their
own, and just as you rejoice today as you would in your own martyrdom.
At that time the devil, enraged for a second time, kindled the dying
embers of fury into torture and aroused the insane arms of his own
violence. But I think he had postponed these activities for quite a while
because he had thought that the entire army of Christ had been delivered
to him. But when he realized that the Church of the Lord was healthy
because of daily exercise, and was growing stronger, right away he felt
that he was being made a laughing stock by the errors of his own hope.
Stirred up by more horrible incitements, he sought out and chose the heart
of a judge suited to himself. Without delay, he made himself subordinate
to a proconsul who was his equal in desire. Augmenting the legislation

“ The reference may be to any one of several biblical texts, e.g., Mt 5.10-12, 24.46-47,
25.21; or Jas 1.12.

’ There is no evidence of systematic persecution of Donatists in Carthage between 321 and
346.

The identity of these martyrs is unknown. The most likely candidate is Donatus of Bagai
who died perhaps during the spring or summer of 347. For the story of bishop Donams,
see Optatus 3.4 (Vassall-Philips, pp. 147-148) and Augustine, Sancti Aurelii Augustini In
lohannis Euangelium Tractatus CXXrV9A5, edited by D. Radbodus Willems, CCSL 36
(Tumhout: Brepols, 1954), p. 120.

Donatist Martyr Stories

of the traitors with his plan of a beastly edict, he immediately ordered a
treaty of sacrilegious unity to be solemnly enacted with tortures as
sanctions so that those whom Christ commanded to be received for his
sake should be perpetually banished (Mt 10.40-42; cf. Jn 13.20) and
should not struggle against the treaties of so-called ‘unity’. Therefore,
tolerating no hindrance to their triumphs, Christ did not permit the
sluggards to divide his own army when the enemy challenged them. He
immediately chose the hardy soldier Maximian from among the strong
men." He made him glorious in this battle, not that the rest were unlike
him, but he did it so that the whole war might be exemplified in a single
battle. The Lord already knew well from his first confession of faith that
he had a lofty disposition.'^ He sent him forth armed with perfect
strength, so that what the Lord deigned to show him the day before his
passion should not be in vain or ineffectual.

§4 On the previous day,'^ there was a meal with some of the sisters
and brothers in the home of a man praiseworthy for Christian sobriety.
When Maximian took up the cup as he was about to drink, in fact, right
after he had mixed it,'"* immediately a crown lay before his lips, descend¬
ing into the cup and enclosed within it. Once mixed, it clung to one side
or the other and enclosed his reflection. It glimmered with a splendid
blood-red color, so that it might appear equally like the blood of his
passion and the splendor of his future dignity in heaven. Full of joy at
this, he showed this miracle to all who were present and he prayed that
they might all join with him in the spirit of love. He wished that whatever
happened to him should pertain to all of them. But after he began to drink,
in no way was the circlet of the crown broken, but the liquid of the drink
grew more concentrated as its quantity was reduced, so that it came to
crown internally the soul to which it had come.

Then, on the very next day,'’ relying on such security, he vomited up
the excess of the previous day’s cup. He seemed to hope for victory in

" There is no evidence that Maximian was a member of the Roman army. This is a
metaphor for service to Christ.

'■ Here is evidence of a previous arrest and release.

August 14th.

It was customary to drink wine mixed with some water.

August 15th.

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac

his very bones, with his lofty disposition tucked deep in a heart which was
ready to bear fruit.

§5 But what more can one say? With the speed not of feet but of
a well-prepared mind, he quickly sprang up on his own to incite this
contest. He scattered the dismal little pieces [of the imperial edict] with
his rapid hands just as if he were tearing the devil limb from limb.'*
Immediately he was taken up to the tribunal. By the order of the proconsul
and without any delay, he was surrounded by a bestial troop of torturers.
From this point on, who could describe the strength of Christ or the
savagery of those mangling him, the torturers’ punishments or the victories
of Christ, the extended insanity of their rage or the constancy of his
Christian endurance? The dreadful torturers rose up redoubling their
violence in their efforts. They expressed it in the blows of lead-tipped
scourges. Bearing in their hands the anger of the judge, they competed
in their rage. Who could be found stronger? But opposing them was Christ
who was clothed in the limbs of his soldier (cf. Rom 13.14). He turned
back from within whatever torments the enraged executioners laid on him
from the outside. They tortured him all the more zealously, angry that
they inflicted such savagery in vain. And the Lord with his own strength
increased his renewed endurance. Fresh guards even more cruel in their
madness changed themselves into executioners and the fierce troops so
often changed were not enough to conunit homicide on one innocent man.
On the other hand, the Lord did not desist from changing the constancy
of his perseverance into something even better. The vigor of his weighty
torture by beating would not have been stopped if he had not also ordered
laceration with the rod afterwards. Thus where violent battering had
caused swelling, later blows would disclose dislocated joints. The whole
body was torn so that this mangling of the limbs created one big wound.

Maximian did not suffer these things passively but he acted like a
person estranged from his own body, triumphing over all these tortures.
Thus a war was waged between his body and the tortures, between
sacrilegious people and a devout man, between strength of soul and

I.e., he tore down a copy of the edict which had been posted. See a similar incident in
Lactantius, Of the Manner in which the Persecutors Died §13 (ANF 7.306).

Donatist Martyr Stories

butchers, between a soldier of Christ and soldiers” of the devil, between
an enduring person and his judge. One miserable man was enough to fight
so gloriously against so much torture and against such a multitude of the
enemy that in this one contest, the enemy could not report a single victory.
He who went to death in triumph was able to pass the test in his final
torment.

But it was proper that he should wait a while for the one whom Christ
had assigned as his companion.

§6 For right then renowned Isaac was not restraining his joy at the
contest of his associate. He was brought in along with the people of the
family of faith'® on account of his public rejoicing in the Holy Spirit.
Full of heavenly endurance, he freely proclaimed, “Come, traitors,
recover your insane ‘unity’.”'’

At the sound of his voice, the furious proconsul immediately was
disturbed enough to ask his staff who was the source of the noise.

But there was no dearth of traitors to lead the way for the soldiers.
These very servants of sacrilege hardly had their fill with one victim
before handing over another to be sacrificed at their hands in the same
way so that they might openly surpass the standards of their ancestors.

Immediately the judge became very angry and had removed the man
whom he had tortured just a little while ago. He turned against the second
man more violently because he was enraged. He had hardly disposed of
one before he became infuriated by the other.

§7 Already drained by the violence, the torturers began the attack
again. Cruelty alone made their weary arms stronger now. This squad of
executioners repeatedly thirsted^® for the violence of scourging with their
flesh-eating whips and, once they had applied all their strength and exerted
all their efforts, they attacked with wailing madness, as if they themselves
were suffering what they had inflicted.

What endurance was there in this man as he suffered while the violence

Milites: Dupin has militum.

'* Literally, fraternos populos.

Dupin’s variant from Corbie reads: “Come to the traitors. Satisfy the insanity of your
cruelty.”

Maier’s substitution of sitiebat (thirsted) for Dupin’s Uciebat (it was permitted) makes
orthographic and narrative sense.

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac

of savage persecution wailed! But the devil was not permitted to overpow¬
er the second martyr because it was not right that the victory of Christ
which burned bright should cede to anyone in any way. Then after the
torture by flogging with a lead-tipped scourge had come to naught, furious
barbarity moved them to use switches for flogging,^' so that the heavenly
armor bearers might not differ by any degree of endurance and the enemy
might not seem to be tamed because it was using a milder torture.

When the switches were broken and the switch makers had been brought
back again and again, Isaac, bearing the name of a victim and imitating
the endurance of his namesake (Gen 22.1-19), was tortured. His sworn
devotion remained intact. All disjoints were broken, the connective tissues
torn and moistened,and his voice seemed to echo the proclamation of
his confession, finding its exit, so it seemed, from his many wounds. Let
no one think that the blows of the switches which followed the mangling
by the claws^^ were some sort of mild chastisement, but rather the judge
found the claws disgusting. Now there were no lacerations but the interior
of the body was revealed. Even the person who had been weakened by
these bloody instruments could not say that there had actually been any
cutting.^'*

Now the bundle of switches lay idle. They were deprived of their
strength almost as if battle axes and pruning hooks had hacked them to
pieces. Now the savage assistants panted their weak breaths, wearied by
the feeble blows of a defeated ferocity. Yet still their thirsty limbs gazed
with eagerness at torments all juicy and waiting to be guzzled down.^^
Then and there Isaac’s body scoffed at torments and his mind was filled
with joy at their fury and torturing. The one who was racked and con¬
demned by the judge at once obstructed the sentence with no delay, and
the judge linking both in an equal destiny bound them over for exile. As
soon as they had been thrust into prison, Isaac immediately brought to

Mabillon omits the switches, virgas.

-- The moisture would not have been blood, as later information reveals, but synovial fluid,
the transparent liquid which lubricates the joints.

For the nature of these claws, see The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §5.

■“ Note the reluctance of the torturers to actually shed blood and therefore provide the
Donatists with ‘martyrs’; cf. The Passion ofDonatus, n. 11.

" Cf. The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §10.

Donatist Martyr Stories

completion the attainment of his martyrdom; and what is more, at the
same time, he abandoned all his prisons, both his body and the world, lest
the revelation of his vision have been mistaken in any way. Thus he went
through everything in correct order so that what would happen seemed
to have happened already in that vision.

§8 For when he was held just a little by deep sleep, it seemed to him
that he had a battle with the assistants of the emperor, not for any reason,
of course, except that for which he endured his passion. And clearly it
was nothing but proof of his devotion that what he considered his ardent
desire while he was awake, he would suffer even in his sleep. Thus he
brought to fulfillment what the Prophet testified concerning him: he says,
“I sleep and my heart keeps watch (Cant 5.2).” His devotion then kept
watch, engaged in the struggles of virtue, and he boldly beat back the
assistants of wickedness who were fighting him under orders from the
king. When he had overcome them after a long battle, suddenly he caught
sight of the emperor himself also approaching: while he was being urged
by the emperor to follow his order, he denied the authority of the sacrile¬
gious order and of the fierce torture threatening him. With repeated
threats, the dreadful man also promised that he would pluck out his eyes
too. Since they had fought each other savagely for a long time in these
battles, Isaac would not countenance simply being declared the winner,
but laying hold of the emperor aggressively, he ended the delay to his
threats. Violentlyjerking up the eye, he emptied the socket, leaving behind
a face bereft of its eye.

§9 Next a man of resplendent brilliance appeared rejoicing in Isaac’s
victory and immediately placing a radiate^^ crown on his head. The faces
of his many brothers and sisters seemed fixed on the rays of the crown.
Rejoicing he handed it over to him as a reward, and laughing, he made
sport of his adversary with strong reproaches. Then the enemy, driven
by strong vexation, ordered Isaac to be tortured with savage torment so
that he might take revenge for his own torment. But already the victor,
Isaac perceived that he was carried upward by the hands of bearers and
that he was lifted up, flying more quickly to the heights of heaven. While
he was happily on his way, he heard a voice from above, like that of an

“ The corona radiata was an iconographic statement of the divinization of the wearer.

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac

old man, shouting, “Woe to you, world, for you are perishing!” (Cf. Rev
18.10, 16 and 19; and 1 Cor 7.31). After this rang out three times, he
came to the climax of his vision and thereafter he accomplished what he
had seen.

§ 10 What could be plainer than this vision? What could be expressed
more clearly when it was arranged in chronological order? Now just as
he had observed himself fighting with the ministers of the king all alone
in the night, so later during the day he embodied this for us. As he had
plucked out the eye of the emperor, so he had blinded him by conquering
him. As he had won the prize of a crown so was he crowned publicly.
As he saw many faces fixed on rays of his crown, so all the people kept
watch at his passion. So he flew to heaven, just as he merited coming to
martyrdom quickly. Only this has yet to happen; he had prophesied
annihilation for the world and we all know he was not lying.

§11^’ Now would anyone among the sisters and brothers by chance
become frightened and declare that Maximian was not the equal [of Isaac]
because, having confessed earlier, he was held back, outliving Isaac for
a short time? Perish the thought, brothers and sisters, that they might be
divided^® for they fought in equal battles! If the Lord by a financial
arrangement made equal those coming into the vineyard at different times
(Mt 20.1-16), how would one judge them unequal when they were found
laboring at the same time? But because Isaac seems to die earlier, how
much more do I say that the Lord makes them equal: as the former
suggested to the latter an inducement to confess, thus did the latter induce
the former equally to the crown [of martyrdom]. The Lord wished both
of them to be teachers for each other so that he might make them equal
in their reciprocal influence of patterning. Lest one surpasses the other,
the one seems to conform to the other in every way. Now truly both
precede each other; both follow each other.^’

§12 But meanwhile a ship was being prepared for exile for those

Following a change in subject matter, Maier inserts a break after the end of the previous
sentence. Migne’s versions continue the sentence immediately.

Mabillon has videantur, seen instead of dividantur.

The quandary of the community whether those who die later are worthy of more praise
is reflected an earlier Carthaginian story. The Martyrdom of Marian and James §8.7-8
(Musurillo, p. 206), where the answer was in the negative.

Donatist Martyr Stories

confined in prison: I believe this was not arranged by any human plan.
It was obvious that it was provided by heavenly aid. The Lord wanted
them to be brought to their end within the space of one day, so that just
as in the vision of the martyr, they might be honored through the vigils
of the people, for^® when Isaac died he was a messenger^' filling the
ears of all [with the news] concerning the accomplishment of his martyr¬
dom. The entire community of faith speedily hurried on their joyful way
to his corpse. When the burial of his body was denied to them by his
executioners, they all held vigils there with great rejoicing during the
entire day lest the body be thrown out unburied. At night the exulting
people proudly^^ sang psalms, hymns, and canticles in testimony. Every
age and sex rejoiced with ardent desire to attend such festivities of
thanksgiving. What kind of honor is this, sisters and brothers, that the
Lord judges fit to procure for his martyrs, so that on the eighteenth day
before the Kalends of September, on a Saturday, just like at Easter, the
people might be permitted to celebrate a vigil! In that way the days were
filled and the nights consumed.

Then when the next day had dawned,” they waited to see what the
proconsul would order concerning the burial of the body. Perhaps the
wretch might assent to what was not normally denied to either homicides
or adulterers. On the other hand, the traitors’ cruel destructiveness”
might stay alert to keep the counsels of cruelty. Then goaded by their
suggestion, the proconsul ordered the people who had been assembled to
be expelled from the prison, and the living as well as the dead to be
dumped into the billows of the sea, so that they would not be permitted
to reverence the dignity of the martyrs.

§13 How stupid the cruelty which wished to deny our hands their
bodies, as if it could take their veneration from our minds. As if by not
being buried in the earth, they could not otherwise enter into the heavenly
kingdom! But something happened to add to the evidence of their happi-

“ Nam\ Mabillon has non, not, here.

” Nuntius; Dupin has notius, an awkward construction and probably a scribal error.
” Instead of gloriose, Mabillon has gloriae domini, to the glory of the Lord.

” Sunday, August 16th, 347. On the dating to the year, see n. 1,

” For pernicies, Corbie and Mabillon have protinus, immediately.

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac

ness: after their earthly tortures for the sake of Christ, even the dead
might be shaken by their trials at sea. In that way there might be no place
on earth where they had not mocked the enemy.

The Lord provided this situation for them to amass more triumphs. Thus
they might labor subject to an even greater hatred by the world and so
be able to show forth power in their bodies whether living or dead.
Therefore, the soldiers^^ and the senior guards, armed with clubs, came
to the prison, and driving the people from that road to slaughter, they
wounded almost all of them. So much had to be attributed to the dignity
of the martyrs that for the sake of their burial others too merited to make
a confession.Afterwards they had hardly been able to remove them.
An unequal number of soldiers on each side led out the dead equally with
the survivors.

Pointless cruelty unwittingly deceived itself so that it might supply the
very funeral rites to those to whom it had otherwise denied them! Now
they approached the shore of the sea, now the ship carried the martyrs
on board so that it might submerge them. As swiftly as it reached deep
water, no less zealously did the retinue of Satan rush to fulfill their orders.
Then they sent them off,” one at a time with quite a long time between
them. They were bound by ropes. Each one was tied neck and feet to two
casks filled with sand. The weight pulled them down.

§14 When the sea recognized those thrown into its lap, immediately
it glistened all over with heavenly flames. It could not hold the most holy
limbs. So the waves rolled from top to bottom and the sea washed away
the sand it had dislodged, exposing their bodies. Turning back, it moved
them from the depths to the surface with its retreating waves. Descending
to the bottom, the searching waves plunged down from the surface
swirling to the depths with tremendous force. At the right moment the sea
was driven back by a stronger eddy. It was compelled to bring forth the
limbs of the saints and the vortex of the waves discharged the submerged
bodies with a rapid torrent of force. The victorious surge, drawing up its

” Mabillon has cuncti milites, all the soldiers.

Those who visited the martyrs in jail will receive similar honor for their bodies will
suffer similar ignominies. See §§14-15.

” For dimiserunt. Corbie has demerserunt, they sank them.

Donatist Martyr Stories

immense weight, finally left behind the bodies it had captured. Then banks
of water were raised more forcefully like substantial mountains so that
the accumulated mass might bear upwards its burden of bodies so they
would not suffer being overwhelmed again. A vault was formed in the
sea and the wave battled on all sides with its own weight under the unified
mass of water so that it would not expose the sea bottom to the heavy
weight of the water.

§15 But there was still one more task left to accomplish, the struggle
for the sea to gather together^’ into a lively congregation those who had
been dispersed over a vast distance lest due to its negligence, the sacrilege
committed by another might survive. The waters tugged here; the rising
whorls swelled there with double crests. The sea immediately brought back
the bodies conveyed to it for a proper reunion.Their approach began
to shorten the distance between the crests, and as they came closer to the
midpoint, the decreasing length of the space between both crests reached
the critical point. When the whole distance disappeared once and for all,
the entire interval vanished and all of the space between them disappeared.
At the very same time that everything was restored to its former condition,
the meeting of waves and bodies was celebrated.

§16 Then the beaches were occupied by the brothers and sisters, as
if some report preceded the martyrs as they were approaching. For days
and nights during that time, they anxiously strained their eyes'" and
hoped for what they believed would happen. They waited for the time to
come as it always did with the help of God. Then suddenly, after twice
three days,"*^ they rejoiced at the appearance of the temples of Christ (cf.
1 Cor 6.19) and everyone ran however they could. With joy filling their
eyes, they fixed their gaze. The waves crashing with joy handed over to

“ For terram contingeret aperire, Mabillon has terga contingere aperiret, so as not to
expose their backs.

Mabillon adds in quinquies, perhaps, “by fives”.

For coitione Mabillon has cohibitione, restraint.

For monumenta defixis obtunitibus, Mabillon has praemonita defixis oppantibus-. they
were kept alert by their customary beliefs.

Mabillon adds ad exemplum umere scilicet geminatim: just like the doubling of the back.
Perhaps the addition should have read humere . . . germinatum\ sprouting from the earth
(cf. John 12.24 and Tertullian, Apology 50 [ANF 3.55]).

The Passion of Maximian and Isaac

their outstretched arms the bodies they had waited for, marked with signs
of victory. The community of faith, committed as they were to this
common devotion, received them with glad embraces.

Thus the blessed martyrs received the interment due them. The sisters
and brothers provided the burial rites for which they all had hoped.
Thus Christ discredited the ineffectual plans of the traitors. He would not
permit the bodies of such people to remain unburied and he would not
defraud the devotion of the people in any way, nor would he watch
unmoved as the impious fulfilled their vows of cruelty with their blasphe¬
my of his name.

§17 Now let the mad rage of the scoundrels sound its cry, that rage
which did not wish to recognize the Lord’s help. It did not fear that he
would be able to deliver bodies from the sea, when they knew he could
even snatch souls from the nether world. Since the monster who vomited
would not swallow anything more (Jon 1.17-2.10), wretched cruelty lost
out because it believed that it had found a great plan, a plan from which
the sea itself was not willing to withhold consent.It ineptly entrusted
its desires [to the sea] for it [the sea] had no desire to oppose its creator.
What does human madness now accomplish when the sea does not
prosecute the martyrs?''^ What does the savagery of criminals accomplish
when the wild seas recover them for burial? What kind of people, con¬
demned by the persecutors, did the elements fear to injure? O memorable
glory of the blessed passion in which Christ deigned to display so many
wonders! O happy death which came to such as these! Their merits
distinguished them by so many manifestations of his power: constancy in
devotion, endurance in suffering, victory in death, and a miracle'** in
their burial."*^

§18 Now, brothers and sisters, all these conditions which led them'**
to the heavenly kingdom come round to you. These exemplars compel

Maier amends the text to read rediderunt fratres. The manuscripts have rediderunt
fratribus'. they provided burial rites for the brothers and sisters.

Maier needlessly changes nec negare potuit to nec negare noluit.

For martyres Mabillon has mortuos, the dead.

Instead of miraculum Corbie has mirabilis, wonder.

For a similar list of virtues, see The Acts ofThe Abitinian Martyrs §1.

For eos Maier substitutes voj, you.

Donatist Martyr Stories

you. This situation drove them on first to these glories for your sake. The
multitude of your own confessions made you teachers through your oft-
repeated professions of faith. Now they adviseyoM concerning martyrdom.
Your pattern which encouraged others likewise now encourages you. Now
they are holding out their arms to you from heaven, waiting for the time
when they will run to meet you. Hurry earnestly;'*’ run persistently. They
are waiting to take up their place of honor right along with you. Come
on, do it, sisters and brothers. Hurry, the sooner the better, so that we
may rejoice in the same way over you. May our return find among you
a reason for boasting just as our departure from these things shared the
joys of glory. When it comes to these affairs, our emulation is a share
in the joys of your glory. But let us arrive, coming to you in your
triumphs. Just as we have announced their victories to you, so will yours
be announced here at Carthage to all the rest who succeed you.

[Here ends the letter of the blessed martyr Macrobius to the people of
Carthage about the passion of the martyrs Isaac and Maximian. Thanks
be to God. Amen.]^®

For grauiter, Mabillon has nauiter, diligently.
Mabillon adds the bracketed materials.

The Martyrdom of Marculus

Introduction

Shortly after the promulgation of the imperial edict of unity, on June
29, 347, a group of Donatist bishops met with personal representatives
of the emperor, the imperial notaries Paul and Macarius, at Vegesela.'
Heading the delegation was Bishop Marculus. The discussion did not go
well and the bishops were taken into custody. Marculus was retained while
the others were eventually released after torture. He was marched from
place to place and finally executed at Nova Petra on November 29, 347.

The method of Marculus’ execution, being thrown from a cliff by
Roman soldiers, is unique among extant Donatist martyrologies. The
rumor of Donatist self-martyrdom by precipitation was circulated by
Catholics ridiculing Donatism. They claimed that when Roman persecu¬
tions ceased in 321, Donatists were frustrated in their attempts to achieve
their martyrs’ crowns, so many of them simply committed suicide.
Sometimes that was accomplished by attracting attention to themselves,
claiming to be Donatists and goading others to murder them. Failing other
attempts, they jumped from cliffs. Stories circulated of Donatist women
vowed to celibacy who preferred self-precipitation to forced marriage.^
In a parody of these rumors that Donatists martyred themselves by jump¬
ing off mountainsides, Marculus was pushed over the edge of the preci¬
pice. Whether Marculus committed suicide or was murdered, the Donatists

' This is the site of a monument to the martyred bishop. See Lancel, SC 373.1518.

- See the story of Secunda who jumped from her balcony to avoid marriage and to join
Maxima and Donatilla on their way to martyrdom in The Passion of Maxima §4. See also
the endorsement of Victoria’s self-precipitation from a cliff to avoid marriage in The Acts
of the Abitinian Martyrs §17.

The Martyrdom of Marculus

treasured the passio within their community.^

The translation is based on PL 8.760-766 which Maier reproduces.
Migne used the text given in Mabillion with several reading from an other¬
wise unidentified fourteenth-century manuscript from Corbie. Section
numbers of the translation correspond to the unnumbered paragraphs in
Migne and the divisions in Maier.

Translation

§ 1 Here begins the Passion of the blessed Marculus which took place
three days before the Kalends of December.'*

The passions and the glories of many martyrs have already been laid
out in lofty style as a sublime memorial. They provide great benefit for
the people who listen each time they are recited as an incentive to virtue
and as praise for the Church. For this reason, the honor of such a martyr
and an increase in the common devotion of all incited me also that I too,
unworthy yet full of love, might expound in an oration the passio of the
glorious Marculus, radiant with priestly honor, brought to perfection only
recently through the shameful crime of the traitors. It is right and proper
enough that the bravery of the more recent martyrs should be joined to
the praise of the witnesses of old.’ The rage of the Gentiles’ who were
obeying the devil chose the martyrs for the heavenly kingdom; and so the
savagery of the traitors who were serving the Antichrist sent them to
heaven.

We must not omit the memorable course of his earlier life. Even if no

’ Optatus 3.6 (Vassall-Phillips, p. 152) claimed that Marculus was killed. Augustine
knew the Catholic story of Marculus as suicide as well as the Donatist report of martyr¬
dom, but he made no certain judgment. See Contra Cresconium 3.49.54 (CSEL 52.461),
Contra Litteras Petiliani 2.20.46 (CSEL 52.46) and In lohannis Euangelium 9.15 (CCSL
36.120).

* I.e., November 29, 347,

' Here is an echo of the approbation of contemporary martyrs as in The Martyrdom of
Perpetua and Felicity §1 (Musurillo, p. 107), but without the latter’s eschatological
urgency.

The Donatists cast themselves as the faithful, the new Israel, in contrast to their
persecutors. See The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs §22 and their use of the word ‘as¬
sembly’ (collecta) in §1 and passim.

Donatist Martyr Stories

one can count all the virtues of the glorious Marculus because of their
great number, one must speak of at least a few items on aceount of their
testimony.

§2 He had been selected and predestined by the Lord. When he
received his first instructions in the faith, he immediately repudiated
worldly education. His mind was caught up to heaven and he rejected his
legal profession and the false dignity of secular learning. Transferring
from the fraud-filled quarters of the magistrates to the most holy school
of the Church, he chose the true Teacher, Christ.’ Thus he merited being
honored among the foremost disciples of Christ. What an upright con¬
science he had, what innate modesty of outstanding character, what
spiritual charm in his appearance! I do not think that 1 have to work hard
here: the fact that he merited the priesthood gives approbation to his
earlier life. Truly the way he exercised his priesthood is demonstrated by
this: the Lord gave him martyrdom as a reward.

§3 Accordingly, he passed his life in a praiseworthy manner in the
duties of the heavenly precepts. After he had been designated summus
pontifex^ with other holy men, he exercised his own good priesthood. But
then suddenly, vicious rumblings of the Macarian persecution thundered
forth from the tyrannical home of king’ Constans and from the pinnacle
of his palace. Two beasts were sent to Africa, viz., the same Macarius
and Paul. In short, an accursed and detestable war was declared against
the Church, so that the Christian people would be forced into unity with
the traitors, a unity effected by the unsheathed swords of soldiers, by
signals given by the standard bearers'® and by the shouts of crowds. But

^ The journey of the believer from traditional Roman religion through philosophy and
the law or rhetoric is a popular motif in conversion narratives, e.g., Justin, Dialogue of
Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho, A Jew §2-3 in ANF, Vol. 1: The Apostolic
Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, translated by A. Cleveland Coxe, pp. 195; and in a
more complex manner in Augustine’s Confessions.

“ I.e., bishop.

’ Naming Constantine as ‘king’ rather than ‘emperor’ or ‘augustus’ adds to the opprobri¬
um, as the title ‘king’ was used from the time of the Roman republic as the designation
for a tyrannical ruler.

Literally draconum, of the dragons. This term would remind those who heard the
story of the intimate association of the traitors and the Draco, the Devil.

The Martyrdom of Marculus

while Macarius, the more fearsome of the two beasts, had for a long time
carried on this bloody business in the rest of the provinces in an under¬
handed way, however, in Numidia, he made public charges against the
renowned Marculus of barbarous cruelty and unheard of ferocity.

At that time the most holy assembly of aged fathers and a united council
of priests sent to him ten of their number, seasoned bishops, as their
legates, to dissuade him from such a crime by their wholesome admoni¬
tions, or at least, as indeed it happened, to become the very first to spring
forth into the field of most devout combat and to the battle line of faith. “
The duty of the noble pastors was directed from heaven so that whatever
cruelty might threaten the sheep should first tear at their own limbs.

§4 The most holy Marculus came among these. When the bishops
found Macarius on a certain estate called Vegesela, they were immediately
received by the man who in his refinement presided over the sacrilegious
unity. The priestly limbs of each of the bishops were stripped and each
one was bound to a column so that they might collapse under harsh blows
by cudgels. Now who could tell of the perseverance of the glorious
Marculus? Who might prevail by virtue of eloquence in displaying the
unheard of rage of his persecutors or the astonishing defense by Christ
the Lord exhibited in the martyr? Because of this, savage ferocity was
excited against him with even harsher rage so that hatred of this soon-to-be
martyr might now rouse the devil, and the villainy of the precursor to the
Antichrist might not be concealed from the Holy Spirit. When he could
no longer withstand Marculus’ soul strengthened by divine constancy, he
fought a battle of pain through the frailty of Marculus’ body.

Then when bloodthirsty bands of robbers surrounded the bravest soldier
of Christ, the barbaric army of soldiers immediately was transformed into
executioners.'^ When they tried to tie him to a column with rough ropes,
at once he seized the occasion to display the power of God. Without being
asked, he fastened the fetters on his arms and the bonds on his fingers to
a column, so that no punishment could tear him away, no cruelty could
separate him from it. By this deed the persecutors knew that the servant

" Cf. the military rhetoric of The Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs, especially in §§1, 3 and
4.

'■ Cf. The Martyrdom of Maximian and Isaac §5 for a similar scenario.

Donatist Martyr Stories

of God for the sake of God’s name yearned for tortures more than he
feared them and that someone could not feel the pains of torture in the
body when the spirit embraces Christ and hope already possesses the
kingdom.

§5 So it happened that a great number of executioners raged against
a single man. Wearing out his sacred limbs with the harsh punishment of
their cudgels, they mangled him with their torture and with their torment.
As much as they inflicted blows on his back with such punishment, so
much did the hardness of the column pound on his chest. Cruelty struck
every part of his body, but the mouth of the noble man brought forth
nothing but praise for God (cf. Pss 36.30 and 50.17). Rage was out of
breath: now savagery was overcome by the perseverance of the suffering
man and the weariness of the torturers. At this point then, Christ, arrayed
in the limbs of the martyr (cf. 1 Cor 6.15), unveiled a miracle: not only
did he not allow pain to touch Marculus, but he even stripped from his
body all signs of rage and all marks of torture. The enemy was conquered
and subdued in this battle. Not content with the cruelty of its punishment,
the enemy destined him for a more horrible--or so it seemed to them-sen-
tence and a most well-known passion.

Next they dragged him with them through the other cities of Numidia
as some sort of public spectacle of their cruelty which unwittingly provid¬
ed amazement for the Gentiles, confusion to the enemies of Christ, and
an incentive to glorious combat to the servants of God.

§6 But truly, as soon as the enemy had devised an exquisite and grim
form of death, it immediately led him with them under a strict guard of
soldiers to the citadel of Nova Petra which is situated near the precipice
of a steep mountain by the same name. There the Lord filled his martyr
with such happiness, he granted him so much joy over his approaching
passion, that the span of four days during which he had to wait for his
impending crown already had to be numbered not among the hardships
of worldly affliction but among the triumphs of the heavenly kingdom.
How much could he exult! After a wearisome sojourn in the flesh and in
the world, once his journey was over, he hastened to see God and Christ.
Travelling as he was to the company of angels and the embrace of the
saints, he passed over the very threshold of paradise.

§7 He prayed constantly and continually. His contemplation was
unlimited in devotion. He kept the gospel in his speech and martyrdom

The Martyrdom of Marculus

in his thoughts. He was as devoted to heavenly virtues in his speech as
he was in his feelings. He brought forth from his mouth what he had
borne enclosed in his heart. Still thirsting for spiritual justice (Mt 5.6) and
totally devoted to serving a deserving God, he ended the last of his four
days fasting so that when the Sunday dawned in which his passion was
to be perfected, the devoted soul of the priest might be made more accept¬
able to God in offering a double sacrifice.'^ Thus the great high priest
was a stranger not only to the enticing world, but even, in fact, to its
food. Truly, in approaching the altars of Christ to place on them offerings,
he himself was worthy to become an offering for Christ.

Finally, as much as he was able to fast in the presence of the Lord, so
much did he evoke the presence of Christ in himself by that purification.
Because of this, the reward for his passion was shown to him in a heaven¬
ly revelation even before it happened.

§8 The greater part of the night had passed and dawn had arrived.
People think this is the best time for prayer and for all religious affairs
because the hour is joined to the day as it is being bom while all human
affairs and business are still at rest. Therefore, at that time, the priest,
rising to celebrate the sacraments, was not so much cleansed by sleep as
roused to prayer to God by the joy of his recent vision. Before he had
begun the mysteries, to the delight of his brethren who were present, he
began a faith-filled sermon about what had been shown to him from on
high.

“I saw,” he said, “these three gifts offered to me from the eternal
treasury of the bountiful Lord: a cup made from the brightest silver, a
crown shining with glittering gold, and the most sublime palm branch
which, full of joy, provided the complement of the forenamed emblems
of triumph.”

Brethren, the Lord showed a great pledge of imminent glory to the
martyr. He revealed a great tmth concerning him and his future honor.
Nothing seemed obscure or ambiguous in this revelation in which he took
the cup which he would have to drink in his passion, in which he took
up the crown which was owed to him when his martyrdom was completed,
and in which he merited the palm, hoping through this victory that he

The Eucharist and martyrdom.

Donatist Martyr Stories

might be secure from attack in the contest.

§9 After this incident, he completed the religious rites as was the
custom. Some moments of the night still remained when suddenly the
ever-watchful messenger of villainy arrived with the savage orders of
Macarius. He bore the unambiguous sentence of most cruel death; he
brought to completion the innumerable glories of the martyr and the
detestable crime of the persecutors. When the office of the guard had
unlocked the doors previously closed to him and acknowledged to him
what their very early arrival had brought, their hearts were immediately
transformed to lamenting. O how great was the grace of that man! How
pervasive the love all around him! How all-encompassing the desire that,
through his passion, even the cruelty and martial rigor of the guards might
be moved to pious tears! Amidst the weeping and emotions of all, he alone
persevered unshaken as he rejoiced that the hour of his death was ap¬
proaching. He could not be disturbed or sad for he was the one whom
faith had made joyful and divine revelation had made calm.

§10 Then, because the rest were afraid, one of the number of those
soldiers, the most repulsive executioner, he who alone had been prepared
by the devil to bring about the death of this distinguished man, anticipated
the deed in his speech. He began to explain the martyrdom in detail to
all who listened. He himself had seen it in some sort of dream. “When
1 was being held by the quiet of the night, suddenly 1 saw you appearing
to me as if you were tied with rough bonds and utterly weighed down by
heavy ropes. Then I untied the ropes with my own hand. Because of this,
hope for mercy and for a pardon to be followed by your release.”

It was not an absurd dream, an incongruous vision, which the execution¬
er saw. Not without cause did he repeat what he had seen. But he followed
the example of the impious Caiaphas who when he was about to kill the
Lord prophesied about his passion (cf. Jn 11.49-52). Rightly now had he
seen the martyr tied up. He who up to now was stationed in a corporeal
dwelling, in the double prison of the world and the body,“' was bound
by the difficulties of temporal life. For a person feels the bonds of the
body, feels the prison of the world, when troubled by trials. So not
without some logic had the executioner dreamt that he had untied him.

Cf, The Passion of Maximian §7 for the motif of the double prison.

The Martyrdom of Marculus

By those cruel hands Marculus had to be separated from his body with
the help of death. After the weightiest bonds of worldly oppression, he
was about to make a journey through his passion to the freedom of the
heavenly kingdom. When we are freed from this world and hurry to the
Lord, we are released from heavy bonds. The Apostle demonstrates this
when he says: “It seems much better to be released and to be with Christ
(Phil 1.23). ” For by similar reasoning the most just Simeon pointed this
out, aroused by the certainty of his approaching death. He rejoiced that
he would be able to escape the troubles of this world. He said: “Now,
O Lord, you dismiss your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your
salvation (Lk 2.29-30).” He never would have borne witness that he was
to be dismissed with every joy unless he held his bodily condition as some
sort of bondage.

§11 Then no delay, no span of time came to pass before the most
cruel executioner attacked as in a predawn robbery, to bring to pass what
he had already seen. Immediately turning hostile, he urged that the witness
of God be brought forth from custody and be led to the rugged heights
of the natural rock, a precipice of rough stone. The bloodthirsty and
barbaric exactor of profane ‘unity’-and the cruelty of the traitors accursed
for all ages-chose this harsh mode of death. The glorious Marculus left
the building surrounded by a squad of guards and a division of soldiers,
honored even by his persecutors. He left resolute in the constancy of his
Christian virtue, leaving behind the hotel of humanity, hurrying on to the
abode of angels. He left joyful in appearance, accelerating his pace,
thinking not so much of the present punishment as of future glory. He was
led along the road to the sacrifice which had been prepared for him. Banks
of earth were built up on both sides, piles of stone rising little by little.
He arrived at the summit notorious for his passion. The very nature of
the mountain made itself useful, so that first treading the lower slopes of
the hill, then the lofty heights, as if he were mounting up to the top by
some sort of steps, he approached heaven and the stars in his body itself.
Thus while he was still in this world, he was higher than the world.
Whatever seems valuable, whatever lofty in this world, he rejoiced to
throw under the soles of his feet.

When he had ascended to the very summit of the rock, all the soldiers
pulled back, some from fear, some from distress, and they kept their
distance from the singularity of the crime. Even if they were present with

Donatist Martyr Stories

guilty fear, they did not want to be involved in the deed.

§ 12 Then the savage executioner with a double dose of cruelty, there
on the precipice, armed with a sword, wielded a double death with his
hands. He hurled the martyr downward with his cruel right arm. He
believed that he had thrown into the dark depths the man owed the heights
of heaven. In fact, once the solidity of the earth was removed, Marculus’
body, descending from on high to the depths, was borne through the empty
expanse of liquid air. Not finding anything to strike against in that void,
he doubled the speed of his progress with a rapid plunge. The swiftness
and duration of the fall fostered a tumbling through the rushing rustle of
the agitated air. The moderation of his speed was managed from on high
so that his limbs, exempt from all adversities, might be placed atop the
harshness of the rocks as if on the softest bed or the calmest waves. Then
his victorious soul by its natural progress sought heaven more swiftly than
his body had descended to earth; so with his own passion completed, both
entities should be returned to the ancient sources of their origin‘s by the
hands of the omnipotent God who kindly cared for the totality of the
martyr. He ordered that his spirit should be placed in its eternal dwelling
place by the assistance of the angels and that his intact body, encircled
by caressing breezes, supported by gently assisting winds, should be laid
at the center of the base of the rocks.

§13 The exquisite schemes of the persecutors and the evil counsels
of the traitors were brought into disarray by the help of Christ. They had
planned on such a punishment as this so that the memory of the martyr
might never be honored by the people of God in their testimony. For they
erroneously thought that the body might be mangled on the precipice, that
it might be torn by the sharp-edged rocks, so that the one deprived of life
might not even have need for burial. They thought that nothing could even
arrive at the ground which the pious fraternity might collect and bury.

This is testimony to the belief that everything in the world was composed of four
elements, earth, air, water and fire, in various proportions. The system, advanced by
Empedocles and later by Plato, included the belief that when the bonds holding an entity
dissolved and that entity returned to its constitutive elements, each of those elements
would seek reunion with the element whence it came. Since the body was composed
primarily of earth and the soul primarily of air, the former naturally descended to the
earth and the latter ascended to the sky.

The Martyrdom of Marculus

since each of the limbs might be held in the recesses of the high mountain
or the entire body might be swallowed up all at once in some cleft in the
fissures of the rocks or in the fractured recesses of the cliffs. But look!
The hard stones and rough rocks spared his consecrated limbs. The
mountains feared to harm the man whom the traitors did not fear to slay.
Except for those people, every creature adores its creator and in this
respect the mountains could not lack the capacity to deserve God’s favor.
Even Scripture gives them a voice for his praise (Ps 148.9; Dan 3.75).

§14 Meanwhile, the fact that the glorious Marculus had achieved
blessed victory in his struggle was concealed within the individual recollec¬
tions of the soldiers. So in the silence of the night they brought the crime
to its conclusion so secretly that not even in the fortress in which he was
guarded could outsiders or the brethren have known about it, had not
divine help and heavenly signs disclosed what had happened. For as soon
as entry of the dawning of the day poured into the pale light of the orb
of the night, and the dissimilarity of the dark and the light changed the
variously colored face of heaven, immediately a magnificent cloud
appeared at the center of the base of the mountain. While lightning
flashed, the cloud bore witness concerning the body of the martyr with
its caressing light. That cloud heavy with morning dew failed to throw
any shadow like a dark cover on the vividly colored hills, but all aglow
it wrapped his auspicious limbs with a bright fleecy cover. While human
ceremonies might have been omitted just then, in a way the cloud seemed
to take the place of a shroud. Meanwhile, the cloud was occasionally
pierced by bright lightning and it glimmered through the winding clefts
so that by wondrous mighty feats it might alert the ignorant about his
passion, or, because the darkness of the night still hung over the area, it
might show those who were piously searching a way to find the body.

§15 Therefore, the excitement ofthe association of believers'® flamed
bright, kindled by these admirable works of God, and suddenly the entire
area resounded with a ringing shout, and they declared to each other their
common commitments in their pious scurrying to and fro. People of both
sexes equally and of every age left their homes in a hurry and flew to the
mountain and the cloud in their longing for the martyr. Neither the

Literally,/raremito.

Donatist Martyr Stories

impairment of old age nor the weakness of youth nor the fragility of sex
could hold back any soul from that place. The ardor of their common faith
set them all aflame. As the scurrying throng had come to those places
which lay beneath the precipice, their common purpose in running had
brought them together into one crowd; then their eoncern for finding the
body dispersed them over the whole mountain. There you could see the
duties of piety divided up among the people. Some with impulsive hands
explored the briar patch with its rough stalks; others cast their eyes as
witnesses into the crooked crevices in the gaping rocks; still others went
back over the rocks they had already looked behind with their anxious
eyes, lest their haste make fools of them. In the end, because their search
could not be successful without the Lord, lightning was sent to that place
to reveal the location which they were all seeking. The radiance of the
cloud served as an indicator to point out the body longed for by the
brethren. On that spot what weeping mixed with all their joy! What
embraces round his distinguished limbs! At last when with difficulty they
were all satisfied, funeral rites were celebrated with great joy by the
brethren and the honor of a religious burial was restored with the greatest
jubilation. For the glory of his name, the Lord revealed everything that
the enemy had tried to conceal.

§16 O the memorable and extraordinary martyrdom of blessed
Marculus! O the example of unshaken virtue eagerly sought by all the
devout! O the exemplar necessary for all the ranks of the clergy, by which
he came to the palm, the reward of his praiseworthy life! He renounced
the world in his catechumenate, showing himself worthy of the priesthood
as a neophyte. In his priesthood the office of martyrdom was honored,
in his martyrdom a testimony to the power of the Divine. To whom be
honor and glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

AVIOCCALA

DONATIST NORTH AFRICA

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I. Texts and Translations of Stories in this Volume
A. Individual stories

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Dolbeau, Francois. “La Passion des saints Lucius et Montanus: Histoire
et edition du texte.” REA 29 (1983): 39-65. Includes notes on “A
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Theological Studies 25/2 (1974): 106-110.

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Duval, Noel. “Une nouvelle edition du ‘Dossier du Donatisme’ avec
traduction frangaise.” REA 35 (1989); 171-79.

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et Secundae. ’ ” Note Agiografiche VIII. In Studi e Testi 65 (1935): 76-97.

_. Passio ss. Dativi Presb. et Aliorum. Studi e Testi 65 (1935):

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_. “Bin donatistisches Corpus cyprianischer Schriften.” Nach¬
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Barnes, Timothy D. Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge and London:
Harvard, 1981.

Bauer, Walter. Rechtgldubigkeit und Ketzerei im altesten Christentum.
Tubingen; Mohr Siebeck, 1934. In translation as Orthodoxy and Heresy
in Earliest Christianity. Edited by Robert A. Kraft and Gerhard Krodel.
Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971.

Brisson, Jean-Paul. Autonomisme et Christianisme dans I 'Afrique romaine
de Septime Severe a I’invasion vandale. Paris: Boccard, 1958.

_. Glorie et misere de I’Afriquechretienne. Paris: Laffont, 1948.

Brown, Peter. Augustine. A Biography. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Univ¬
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_. “Religious Coercion in the Later Roman Empire: The Case

of North Africa.” History 48 (1963); 83-101 = Religion and Society
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et d’Afrique.” AB 54 (1936): 298-300.

_. “Review of Paul Monceaux, L’epigraphie donatiste.” AB 29

(1910): 467-68.

De Veer, A. C. “L’exploitationduschismemaximianiste par Saint Augus¬
tin dans la lutte centre le Donatisme.” Recherches Augustiniennes 3
(1965): 219-37.

Duval, Yvette. Aupres des saints corps et ame: L’inhumation ‘adsanctos’
dans la chretiente d'Orient et d'Occident du IIP au VIP siecle. Paris:
Etudes Augustinennes, 1988.

Finkelstein, Louis. Akiba: Scholar, Saint and Martyr. New York: Covici,
Friede, 1936; repr. Northvale, NJ, and London; Jason Aronson, 1990.

Frend, W.H.C. The Donatist Church: A Movement of Protest in Roman
North Africa. Oxford: Clarendon, 1952.

_. Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of

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_. “The Seniores Laici and the Origins of the Church in North

Africa.” Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 12 (1961): 280-84.

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Kriegbaum, J. B. Kirche der Traditoren oder Kirche der Mdrtyrer?

Innsbruck and Vienna: Tyrolia, 1986.

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Index

References to martyrs are given only if they occur
outside the story of their martyrdoms.

Abitina, Abitinian martyrs, xi, xii,
xiii,xxi,xxii,xiii, xxxi, xxxvi, 51,
62

Ado, medieval hagiographer, 13
Aelafius, Vicar of Africa, xxiv
Akiba, rabbi and martyr, 17 n.l7
Alfius Caecilianus of Apthugni,
xxix

Anulinus, proconsul, xxx, 10-11,
16, 18-24,27,30-43,48
Arcadius, emperor, xxxiii
Archadius, magistrate at the Ceph-
alitan estate, 18
Arles, xxiv

Aspasius Patemus, proconsul, 3
Augustine of Hippo, vii, ix n.7,
xii, xxii, 54 n.7, 79 n.7
Avioccala, 51,58

Babcock, William S., viii
Baluze, Etienne, 26, 27
Barnes, Timothy D., xiii
Basilica Fausti, 11
Bauer, Walter, vii

Caecilian, Catholic bishop of Car
thage, xi, xxxi 25, 26, 45, 28,
51, 53

Campitana, farmworker at the
Cephalitan estate, 18-19
Carthage, xi, xiv, xv, xvi, xxi,
xxxi, 8, 25, 58, 63
Cephalitan estate, 18
Cirta, xiv, n. 8, xxx
Constans, emperor, xvi, xxiv-xxv,
xxxii-xxxiii, 79

Constantine, emperor, xii-xvi,
xxiii-xxv, xxxi,xxxii, 26, 51
Crispina, martyr viii n.6, 13
Curubis, 3

Cyprian, xiii, xv, xx, xxiii, xxvi,
xxvii, 8, 59 n.l3

Danube, xxiii

Decius, emperor, xiii, xxvii, 1
Delehaye, Hippolyte, 8, 13
De Smedt, Charles, 17
Diocletian, xxiii, xxviii, xxix, 8,
24

Donatus and Advocatus, xvi, xxi,
xxii, xxiii, xxxvi
Donatus of Bagai, Donatist bishop,
64 n.lO

Donatus of Carthage, subdeacon 5
Donatus, Donatist bishop of Car¬
thage, XV, xvi, XXV, 51, 52 n.l

100

Donatist Martyr Stories

Duncan-Jones, R., 7-8
Dupin, Louis Elies, 62

Empedocles, 85 n.l5
Euphrates, xxiii

Eusebius, church historian, xii, 7,
25

Felix, bishop and martyr, xiii ,xx,
xxiii, xxviii

Florus, proconsul of Numidia, xxx
Fortuniatianus of Carthage, brother
of the martyr Victoria, 42
Frend, W. H.C., xxx
Fundanus, bishop of Abitina, 30

Galerius, emperor, xxix, 13
Galerius Maximus, proconsul, 2-5
Gallienus, emperor, xxvii,13, 17,
18

Gaul, 51

Grams, Catholic bishop of Car
thage, xvi, xvii, xxv
Gregory the Great, xvii

Henchir Bou Cha, 7-8
Herrenianus, see Magnilianus
Honorius, emperor, xxxiii
Hosius of Cordoba, Catholic bish
op, xvi, xxxi

Jerome, 13

Jesus, 13, 22

Justin, martyr, 79 n.7

Lactantius, xxviii,7

Cancel, Serge, viii, xiv n.7

Leontius, dux and later comes.

xxxii, 53

Licinius, emperor, 25

Mabillon, Jean, 62, 78

Macarius, imperial notary, xvi,
xxv, xxxii, 78, 79

Maccabees, 44

Macrobius, Donatist bishop of
Rome, 62, 75

Macrobius Candidatus of Carthage,
5

Magnilianus of Thibiuca, xxix, 8-
10

Maier, Jean-Louis viii, 2, 8, 16,
17, 52, 62, 78

Majorinus, Donatist bishop of
Carthage, xxv, 51

Marcellinus, tribune, 53

Marcellus of Theveste, martyr,
xxviii

Marculus, xvii, xxi, xxiv

Marian and James, martyrs, 70
n.29

Mascula, xxx

Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda,
xiii, XX, xxii, xxiii, xxiv, xxx,
25, 42, n52, 62

Maximian, emperor, xxvii, xxviii,
8, 13, 17, 18, 26

Maximian and Isaac, martyrs, xvii,
xxi

Maximilian of Theveste, martyr,
xviii, 59 n. 13

Mensurius, Donatist bishop of
Carthage, xi, xiv-xv, xxv, 25,
45, 46, 48

Migne, Jacques Paul, 62, 78

Donatist Martyr Stories

101

Miltiades, Catholic bishop of
Rome, xxiv, xxv
Monceaux, Paul, xxv, xxviii, 13
Montanus and Lucius, martyrs, 30
n.l8

Musurillo, Herbert, 8

Nova Petra, 77, 81
Numidia, xiv, xv, xvi, 64, 80

Optatus of Milevis, vii, xxii

Paul, imperial notary, xvi, xxv,
xxxii, 77, 79

Perpetua and Felicity, martyrs,
xiii, 16, 21 n.33
Persia, xxvii

Petilian, Donatist bishop of Con
stantine (Cirta), ix n.7
Plato, 85 n.l5

Polycarp, martyr, 11 n.l6, 15-16,
62

Pontius, Cyprian’s hagiographer,
1-2

Pontus, xxvi

Rhine, xxiii
Rome, xvi, xxiv
Ruinart, Thierry, 27

Scilli, Scillitan martyrs, xiii, 11
Shadrach, Meschach and Abed-
nego, 15
Siciliba, 57
Spain, xvi, xvii
Stephen, martyr, 15
Theda, holy woman, 24 n.43, 30

n.l8

Thibiuca, xxviii, xxx, 7-10
Thuburbo, xxx, 18 n.l9, 20, 21,
22

Turbitan, see Thuburbo
Turbo, see Thuburbo
Tyconius, Donatist theologian, viii

Ursatius, comes Africae, xxxi-
xxxii, 53

Valerian, xiii, xxvi, xxvii, 1, 13
Vandals, xvii
Vegesela, 77, 80

Zenophilus, judge, xiv

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